ISLAMABAD: A businessman was murdered during an alleged dacoity at his farmhouse located in Orchard Scheme in Islamabad, police said.

No official word was available on the incident.

However, some police officers, on condition of anonymity, told Dawn that the circumstances suggested he was murdered during a house dacoity. CCTV footage of the incident showed five persons, armed with SMGs and wearing bulletproof jackets, raiding the farmhouse.

Some political figures, VIPs and influential individuals, including an adviser to the prime minister and a cabinet member, own farmhouses in the neighbourhood where the crime occurred.

The deceased was identified as Amir Awan, owner of a showroom in Aabpara. During the early hours of Monday, a group of five armed men raided the farmhouse and entered the residential area.

The gunmen reached the bedroom of Amir Awan, sources said, adding that the crime scene suggested that there was some resistance.

The gunmen later managed to escape. The injured man was initially shifted to a state-run hospital and later taken to a private hospital, where he died during surgery.

Police have started an investigation, covering all possible aspects of the incident to establish the facts.

A case has been registered at Shahzad Town police station under Section 397 (robbery or dacoity with attempt to cause death or grievous hurt) of the Pakistan Penal Code on the complaint of the deceased’s wife, Aisha Awan.

According to the FIR, she was in the bedroom with her husband, Amir Awan, at midnight on March 30, 2026, while her sons, Asad Awan and Aryan Awan, were sleeping in their bedrooms.

At around 2:45am, she woke up to noises in the room and saw three armed men scuffling with her husband inside the bedroom, while two armed men were standing outside the window.

The gunmen started firing with the intention of killing them when she began shouting. As a result, her husband sustained a bullet wound to the abdomen and fell down seriously injured.

Hearing her cries and the gunfire, her sons came into the room, upon which the gunmen fled through the window. She saw her two security guards, Arman and Dawood, running towards her and informing her that the gunmen had snatched their weapons, mobile phones and cash, and had locked another guard, Kaleem Ullah, in a room.

Man shot dead

Robbers murdered a man and injured three others in separate incidents besides looting cash and valuables worth over four million rupees in Islamabad, police said on Monday.

In the first incident, a gang of robbers murdered a man and injured his cousin at Tarnol. The deceased was identified as Mohammad Asif and the injured as Mohammad Haroon. The incident took place when the two cousins were returning home on a motorcycle after attending a marriage ceremony of Asif’s sister.

When they reached Bhadana graveyard at Tarnol, two armed persons tried to intercept them. The cousins in an attempt to avoid the armed men took a u-turn. However, their motorcycle slipped and they fell on the road. The robbers opened indiscriminate fire on them when the two cousins ran towards Benazir Chowk on foot.

As a result, Asif and Haroon fell on the road. Later, they were shifted to hospital where Asif was pronounced dead.

Similarly, two siblings were shot and injured during another robbery in the same locality.

In another incident, robbers armed with weapons intercepted two siblings. The robbers asked them at gunpoint to hand over cash and valuables. When they refused, the gunmen shot them and escaped. As a result, both fell down and started bleeding. The injured were shifted to hospital for medical assistance.

Furthermore, a gang of robbers looted a motorcycle and a mobile phone from a man at Pindorian. Two persons armed with weapons intercepted Ali Shan when he reached Pindorian on his motorcycle. The robbers held him up at gunpoint and snatched bike along with his mobile phone.

Likewise, three robbers looted cash and mobile phones from a man on the Expressway near Dhoke Kala Khan. Samiullah told police that the robbers snatched Rs6,000 cash and two mobile phones from him and escaped.

In another incident, robbers looted cash and three mobile phones from three persons at Wali Phari near the Expressway.

Two robbers intercepted Hamza and his two friends and held them at gunpoint. They snatched cash and three mobiles from them and escaped.

Published in Dawn, March 31st, 2026