KARACHI: A man, held for allegedly killing a woman and her three children, was remanded in police custody by a judicial magistrate on Monday.

The investigating officer (IO) of the case brought the suspect, Masroor Hussain, before Judicial Magistrate (West) Inaamullah Phulpoto and sought his physical custody for interrogation.

The IO informed the court that on Jan 3, the police had recovered four unidentified bodies, including two females and two males, from a manhole near Mai Kolachi Road.

He added that the post-mortem reports confirmed that the victims were killed by sharp-edged weapons and subjected to severe physical violence. However, later, the brother of one of the victims identified the bodies and nominated the suspect in this case.

The partially decomposed bodies were identified as those of Anila, 35, her two sons — Husain Ali, 13, and Muhammad Zulqarnain, 12 — and her daughter, Kishwara Zehra, 14.

The IO submitted before the court that he needed the custody of the suspect to recover the crime weapon(s) and also to trace if any other suspect was involved in the offence.

He also stated that the “investigation is at a crucial stage where custodial interrogation is imperative to prevent the destruction or tampering of the evidence and to secure truthful and detailed disclosures from the accused. Police custody will also aid in collecting additional material evidence and facilitating an effective and speedy investigation.”

After hearing the IO, the court allowed his request and handed over the custody of the suspect for five days to the police and directed him to submit a progress report at the next hearing.

“Considering the gravity of the offence and the stage of investigation, this court is satisfied that the prayer for police custody remand of the accused Maroor Hussain is justified,” the court observed.

A case was registered at the Docks police station under Section 302 (murder) and 34 (Common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

Published in Dawn, January 6th, 2026