Post mortem of 8 Johar Town victims concludes

LAHORE: The post mortem of eight members of a family including three minors, who were found murdered under mysterious circumstances inside their house at E/1 Johar Town on Tuesday, has concluded, Geo News reported Wednesday.

The victims were identified as Zahid Iqbal, his wife Naseem and daughter Amina, 4; Shahid Iqbal, his wife Farzana and two children Areeba, 6, and Afaaq, 10, and Nazir Iqbal. They all hailed from Jehanian Mandi, Multan. Zahid had five brothers of whom three have been killed. Among the survivors, two are living in America while the third is an advocate linked up with the PML-N Lawyers Wing in Lahore.

Nazir Iqbal was suffering from cancer and was unmarried. Shahid Iqbal was a contractor with the National Highways Authority (NHA) and Zahid Iqbal was serving as a lecturer in a local institution.

According to the initial autopsy report, the victims were eliminated by using sedatives before being hit on heads with heavy object probably a hammer. Nazir was found murdered in a separate room while each of the two families along with their children was found dead on the ground and upper floors of the two-storey house. The three brothers were living in the rented house for over 12 years.

There were no torture marks on Nazir’s body and the sources of Jinnah Hospital told that cause of his death would be ascertained after the forensic report is received by the laboratory.

A police officer said the circumstantial evidence implied that the killer(s) had first given sedatives to the victims and later sprinkled a chemical on their faces to make them unconscious. As they got unconscious, the suspect(s) killed them with a hammer.

The family sources told that the burial of the eight victims would be held in Gujranwala.