KARACHI, Oct 20: A young couple was found dead in the Chanesar Goth area of Mehmoodabad on Thursday morning while their 11-month-old child could not be traced till late night despite search efforts by police, officials said.

The police said that Shamrez, who hailed from Abbotabad, and Asma, who was from Shikarpur, married of their free will about two years back against the wishes of their families.

The officials added that Shamrez, 30, and his 25-year-old wife had been asked over for dinner by the woman’s brother, Liaquat Ali, at his house where the bodies were found.

“While both Liaquat Ali and the couple’s 11-month-old child are missing following the murder, we suspect that the couple have been stabbed to death by the woman’s brother,” said DSP Rizwan Wasti.

The police quoted his neighbours as saying that they got suspicious when someone in the house turned the volume of television up in the night.

“Recently, the woman’s relatives had approached the couple calling for a family reunion,” said an official at the Tipu Sultan police station. “It was for this reason that her brother, Liaquat Ali, invited the couple to his house.”

The officials said that the couple was found dead in the morning but police could not trace their child, Sahil.

They later shifted the bodies to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre for a post-mortem examination.

The police claimed to have seized a knife used in the crime.

The officials said that a case (FIR 218/2011) had been registered against Liaquat Ali at the Tipu Sultan police station underSections 302 (premeditated murder) and 362 (kidnapping) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

Auto-rickshaw driver shot dead

An auto-rickshaw driver was shot dead within the remit of the Sohrab Goth police station on Thursday.

The police said that Sher Khan, a resident of Faqeer Goth, was gunned down in the Seven Star Society.

They suspected a personal enmity as a possible motive behind the killing. They added that the victim hailed from Waziristan.

An FIR (645/2011) was lodged on a complaint of the victim’s brother, Gulab Khan, at the Sohrab Goth police station under Sections 302 and 34 (common intention) of the PPC.

Factory worker killed

A factory worker was killed and his cousin wounded while resisting an armed robbery in their residential quarter within the remit of the Pak Colony police station.

The officials said that two bandits barged into the quarter of Bagh Ali, 30, and Mohammad Riaz, 25, situated in the Haroonabad Mill area, and snatched cash from them. As they tried to put up resistance, the armed men opened fire on them and fled, the officials added.

“Bagh Ali died before he could be shifted to the civil hospital while his wounded roommate, Riaz, was being provided treatment,” said an official at the Pak Colony police station.

He added that both the men were textile workers and had received their salaries a day earlier. The victims hailed from Naushahro Feroze.

An FIR (241/2011) was later lodged on a complaint of Riaz at the Pak Colony police station under Sections 302 and 392 (punishment for robbery) of the PPC.