MULTAN, April 21: The district police on Saturday lodged an FIR against an alleged dacoit-cum-murderer who had made a startling confession of killing the seven members of his family, including his parents, some 10 month ago.

The New Multan police had arrested the other day Rana Adnan who informed the law enforcers that he had killed his father Rana Muhammad Younis, a former naib nazim of Union Council 86 (Basti Malook), mother Hameeda Mahmood, a schoolteacher, three sisters — Sadaf Mahmood, Sadia Mahmood and Sobia Mahmood (all students) — and brothers Faraan Mahmood and Arsalan Mahmood 10 months ago.

District Police Chief Muneer Ahmad Chishti told Dawn that the police had lodged FIR No 306 under section 302/201 against the accused and a case would be sent to an anti-terrorism court. The police would also investigate the Nishter Hospital staff which had issued the death certificates showing the deaths of all members of the family as natural, he said.

According to initial investigation, he said, hammer and cutter had been used at the time of murders and there was a strong indication that there were at least two killers because a single person could not use the two weapons at a time.

On Friday, the police had sent the bodies for postmortem after exhuming those from the courtyard of Adnan’s house to ascertain the modus oprandi of the killers. Mr Chishti said contradictory statements by the accused had made things difficult for the investigators and the postmortem report would come in handy at this stage.

The police had arrested Adnan, an FSc student at the Government College Bosan Road, along with his accomplice Munawar Saeed, on the charge of killing a widow. Adnan told the police that he had killed all members of his family owing to “harsh attitude of his parents towards the children and an air of mistrust that had crept into his home”.

Later, he said his father provoked him to kill his mother and sisters and they planned to kill them and accordingly drugged the targets. His father Rana Younis, 50, killed his two sisters Sadaf and Sadia and mother Hameeda Mahmood, 45, by hammering them.

In the meantime, his brother Faraan woke up and fell a victim to father’s fit of rage. Seeing her mother fluttering like a fish out of water, he said, he went beside himself in rage and killed his father. Within few minutes, he also slay his youngest brother Arsalan and sister Sobia — a class-V student — as soon as they got up amid uproar.

The police officer said the conflicting claims by the arrested person had confused the officials who were awaiting the postmortem reports.

Munawar Saeed, the other accused in the widow’s case, told the police that a few days ago Adnan met him and told him that he was going to commit suicide owing to financial straits and he (Munawar) calmed him down by convincing him to make money through robbery.

Police sources quoted the main accused as saying that he prepared a bogus power of attorney of his father and sold out some property. He also got the death certificates of his family and informed the neighbours that his family had gone to an Urs from where they would go to Saudi Arabia to perform Umra.

They further quoted him as saying that after getting the death certificates of his parents he was trying to get the property transferred to his name and the revenue department staff demanded Rs60,000 as hush money. Thereafter, he said, he entered widow Majeeda Bibi’s house with the intention of committing robbery along with his friend and killed the woman on resistance.

Speaking to journalists, the accused claimed that he was the dearest one of his father and would often sleep with him on a single bed. “Father would share everything with me, loving me more than anyone else.”

For two months, they both planned to kill all other members of the family and the day came when they committed the gruesome act. After the incident he tried to commit suicide but could not succeed, such was another claim.

Adnan said he met Munawar 26 days ago and it was the latter who enticed him into committing robberies. He said he would like to request court to give all his property to any orphanage.

According to APP, the police had already sealed the house of the accused and deployed a guard over there.

Munir Chishti, the SSP operations, said at a press conference Adnan was a lascivious youth and he squandered over Rs600,000 he got from the sale of a plot within six months.

He quoted Adnan as saying that it was actually his father who masterminded the killings for he had suspicions about his mother and sisters. “I only abetted my father in executing the plan.”

He said he hacked to death his brothers because they had become witnesses to the other murders and his youngest sister Sobia once regained senses after attack and implored before him to spare her life, but blood lust got the better of him and he killed her.

According to the accused, he called some labourers and asked them to dig the floor of the adjacent room where he buried the seven bodies and got the floor repaired the very next day.

The killer’s relatives and neighbours told newsmen that the women (of the family) were chaste. Adnan had committed the horrendous act only to grab the entire property of the family, they said.

His father had sold out his agricultural land, measuring 3.5 squares in Makhdoompur, Basti Malook and had purchased 16 houses in Jamilabad to rent them out, they said.

The SSP said the challan of the case would be submitted to the ATC within a week and the police would seek an exemplary punishment for the killer.