BAHAWALPUR, Feb 12: The murder of a woman and her four children in Nazirabad Colony here on Friday shrouded in mystery as police failed to find any clue to the culprits.

In any case, police sources said that three suspects were rounded up for interrogation by the police on Saturday. They were identified as Jaffer Hussain, driver of the wagon owned by the deceased family, tailor master Sarfraz Hussain and a neighbour.

Civil Lines police have registered a case on the complaint of Irshad Ahmed, the brother of deceased Zubaida Begum. The complainant lives in Head Rajkan near Yazman.

Meanwhile, bodies were handed over to Irshad and other relatives of Mukhtar Ahmed on Saturday after the post-mortem examination. The result of the post-mortem is being awaited from the chemical examiner.

Mukhtar, the head of the deceased family, was expected to reach here from Saudi Arabia on Saturday night.

DPO Arif Nawaz told Dawn that two teams headed by City ASP and DSP (Investigation) were assigned the task of investigations into the case and trace the culprits.

However, the DPO ruled out the possibility of dacoity, robbery or terrorism as the cause of murders. He opined that the accused had served them some sweets and rice before strangling them.

While Zubaida's body also bore injuries of a sharp-edged weapon. He observed that the crime could be the outcome of an honour killing.

Meanwhile, the deceased will be laid to rest on Sunday (today) after the arrival of Mukhtar Ahmed from Saudi Arabia.

RALLY: Rickshaw drivers will take out a rally on Feb 14 to protest against the government decision of banning the two-stroke rickshaws in Punjab.