Woman and three children were murdered in Multan, suicide scene was staged: police

MULTAN: Police said on Tuesday that a woman and her three children were killed inside their home in Multan and that the scene had been arranged to resemble a suicide.

City Police Officer (CPO) Multan Sadiq Ali Dogar confirmed the development while speaking to the media. He said the deaths were not being treated as a case of suicide.

“Certainly, this is not a suicide; this leans more towards murder,” he said. “It was a staged suicide.”

The CPO said investigators were still gathering evidence and examining all possible aspects of the case.

The incident came to light after Rescue 1122 and police received a call on their helplines claiming that a woman had allegedly hanged herself along with her children in an informal settlement near Mumtazabad Phatak in Multan. However, investigators later raised doubts about that account.

According to police officials, the initial assessment pointed to a suspected homicide that had been made to look like suicide. A senior police officer said the evidence collected from the house suggested the victims may have been strangled with a rope before being suspended in an apparent attempt to mislead investigators.

“The condition of the bodies and the crime scene do not support a straightforward suicide. It seems the children were killed first and then hanged from a ceiling fan, while the scene was arranged to create an impression of suicide,” the officer said.

Police also said there were no clear indications suggesting that the woman had taken her own life. Investigators faced additional difficulty because the bodies had already been taken down before police and Rescue 1122 arrived, prompting concerns that evidence at the scene may have been disturbed.

An initial inquiry, according to the same officer, found that a domestic dispute had taken place earlier in the day and that the woman had reportedly informed her parents about it. The incident occurred before they could reach the house.

Police said post-mortem examinations would establish the exact cause and time of death. The victims included children aged six, four and three. Police further said the woman was pregnant.

Authorities have taken the deceased woman’s husband and his brother into custody for investigation.

Recent Lahore case also under investigation

In a separate incident reported from Lahore on Saturday, a woman, her two minor sons and a man were found dead, while the woman’s two daughters were injured under unexplained circumstances in a flat at Safanwala Chowk in Mozang.

According to police and Edhi, Ayesha, 42, her 10-year-old son Muneeb and 14-year-old son Safeer were found shot dead. Her daughters, 11-year-old Manahil and 19-year-old Samra, were injured in the flat. A property dealer, Shahid Jatt, was also found shot dead there.

Police shifted the injured girls to Mayo Hospital for treatment, while the bodies were moved to the morgue for autopsy. A case was registered on the complaint of the heirs, police said.