KARACHI: The bodies of five members of one family have been recovered from a house in Karachi’s Gulshan-e-Hadeed, where police say a handwritten note points to poverty and prolonged unemployment behind the suspected collective suicide.
The bodies were discovered during the night between Monday and Tuesday inside a house in a private housing society in the Bin Qasim neighbourhood. Police said the landlord alerted the emergency helpline after finding the house locked from inside, and a team broke open the door to find the five victims in different rooms.
The deceased were identified as Shahzaib, a property dealer, his wife Saba, their two young daughters, Aizal and Arya, and Shahzaib’s sister, Shumaila. According to preliminary police findings, the sister and the two girls were poisoned, while Shahzaib allegedly shot his wife before taking his own life. A pistol was recovered from the scene. All five bodies were shifted to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre for medico-legal examination.
Investigators recovered a handwritten note from the house that reportedly described months of financial strain. Police said the note stated that the family had struggled since the death of Shahzaib’s father, that he was without work, and that repeated requests to relatives for help with groceries, children’s milk and a gas cylinder had gone unanswered. The note alleged that relatives had humiliated the family instead of assisting them, and reportedly asked that those who turned away should not attend the funerals.
Malir SSP said the note had been sent for forensic and handwriting examination. Sindh police chief Javed Alam Odho took notice of the incident, sought a report from the DIG, and directed a transparent and impartial investigation covering every aspect, including possible criminal angles.
The case recalls a strikingly similar incident weeks earlier, when five bodies from one family were found inside a flat in Karachi’s Ahsanabad area. Police also suspected suicide in that matter, saying the bodies were several days old.
