LAHORE, Jan 6: Four members of a family, including a 13-month old baby boy, were shot dead over a domestic issue in a Jehanzeb Block house in Allama Iqbal Town on Sunday.

Police said that two of the four killed people sustained two bullets each while the remaining two had single bullet holes. The dead were identified as Mohammad Aslam, 55, his wife Rasheeda Bibi, 50, his daughter Sheeren, 22, and his 13-month old grandson Ahmad.

Nadeem, the eldest son of the deceased Aslam, told Dawn that he and his brother were asleep in a room upstairs while his two other brothers were in a room on the ground floor. His father was in an adjacent room while his mother, a sister and his son were in the drawing room.

Nadeem said that he woke up to gunshots at around 8:30am. He rushed downstairs and found that the occupants of the drawing room missing and his father’s room on fire. The room of his brothers was locked from outside.

He said that he took out his brothers and they put out the fire. They found the four bodies at the bathroom door. He called police who found the licenced pistol of Aslam close to his body. They found six bullets in the magazine.

It could not be known immediately whether the pistol was used in the crime or not. Some 11 empties of the same bore pistol were also found on the spot, suggesting there might be another weapon.

The police said that the construction of the house suggested that nobody could come inside without the help of an inmate. It was also being apprehended that somebody known to the family might have come to the house on pretext of solving the dispute and brought hired assassins with him.

Nadeem blamed his wife Shazia for the murders. He said he married her three years ago and they had a baby boy. He had a dispute with his wife over her demand for a separate house. Leaving the boy behind, she left him. Later, she turned up with her uncle and they demanded the boy. On refusal, she and her uncle left the house while hurling murder threats at him. On Friday night, he said that he received a call from a person who identified himself as Zafar, a brother of Safdar Tentawala.

Police sources said that Zafar approached the deceased Aslam on Saturday and demanded the boy. The sources said that Shazia’s family hired Zafar, his brother Safdar and a councillor, Sher Azfal, to take possession of the boy.