SARGODHA: Police on Sunday arrested seven suspects including the shrine custodian for intoxicating and murdering 20 devotees with batons and knives early Sunday in Sargodha.
Three women were among those killed at the Sufi shrine to Ali Mohammad in Punjab.
“The 50-year-old shrine custodian has confessed that he killed these people because he feared that they had come to kill him,” regional police chief Zulfiqar Hameed said.
“The suspect appears to be paranoid and psychotic, or it could be related to rivalry for the control of shrine,” he said, adding that the investigation was continuing.
It has been revealed that the primary suspect Abdul Waheed belongs to Nankana Sahib and was a one-time employee of Election Commission.
He had also killed Asif Gujjar, who was the son of his Pir Ali Muhammad Gujjar.
Asif Gujjar was included in the security staff of the Prime Minister.
Local police station chief Shamshir Joya said the victims, whose clothes were torn and bloodstained, appeared to have been given intoxicants.
“We suspect that the victims had been given some intoxicants before they were murdered, but we will wait for a forensics report to confirm this suspicion,” he added.
Joya said the shrine was built in the area some two and a half years ago. When its former custodian died, Waheed took over.
Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has called for a police report on the investigation within 24 hours, a senior government official said.
