ISLAMABAD, Sept 21: A man gunned down seven members of his family — his wife, two sons, two daughters, son-in-law and daughter-in-law — here at Sector G-7/2 in the early hours of Saturday, the police said.

Mohammed Nawaz, a retired interior ministry employee, surrendered to the police and confessed the crime, the police said.

Police recovered a shot-gun and a pistol from his possession, the investigating officer said.

Police said that Nawaz had a grudge with one of his daughters, Aasma, who had married against his wishes a Christian man two years ago. One of his sons Qadeer, too, had married a Christian girl that drove Nawaz into distress. On Friday night, Nawaz invited Aasma, his son-in-law Naveed Ilyas, son Qadeer, and daughter-in-law Aasia for dinner at his G-7/2 house.

According to the police, Nawaz mixed some toxic substance into food which left his guests fainted. “He started murdering one-by-one at about 2am and finished the gory act at dawn,” the IO said.

After the killing the accused rang up some of his relatives and broke the news to them, the police said.

Some 18 years ago, Nawaz had married a Christian woman, Kaneez Fatima, after getting her to embrace Islam. The couple had two daughters and two sons — Aasma, Alyia, Abdul Qadeer and Abdul Kabeer.

In 2001, Aasma allegedly developed relations with her Christian cousin Naveed which resulted in marriage. Nawaz was annoyed over her act and lodged an FIR for abduction with the Aabpara police.

Later, Qadeer married Aasia, also a Christian. According to the police, Aasia was expecting at the time of the marriage, which drove Nawaz into further distress.

Inspector Khurshid Khan, who is leading the investigation, told Dawn that Nawaz wanted to commit suicide as he had locked himself inside his house after killing his family.

“We overpowered him after convincing him during negotiations. One shot-gun and a pistol were recovered from him,” the inspector said.