September 3, 2025
By Iqra Manzoor
LAHORE
Mangla police registered a case on September 1, under Section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code against a man in Arhaa village, suspected of killing his wife and two young children by poisoning.
The deceased have been identified as 32-year-old Hajra Ishtiaq, her son Qasim (7), and daughter Zainab (5). According to initial investigations, the bodies were discovered on Monday morning inside a locked room of their home, instantly triggering suspicion over the circumstances surrounding their deaths.
Bodies discovered after relative raised alarm
Voicepk spoke to Shehzad Khurram, the complainant in the FIR and Hajra’s cousin, who narrated the shocking discovery.
“One of our relatives went to their home in the morning to check if the children were going to school as classes had reopened,” he said. “She knocked on the door, but there was no response. The door was locked from the outside, which was common because Sohail, the husband, was a taxi driver and often locked it when he left late at night.”
When repeated knocks went unanswered, the family called Sohail’s brother, who lived nearby.
“He jumped over the wall and found that the drawing room was also locked from the outside. When he peeped through an open window, he saw Hajra and the two children lying dead inside. There was so much blood, and there was foam seeping outside the mouths of Hajra and her son. It seemed they had been poisoned.”
Husband missing, planned escape suspected
Khurram said the family tried calling Sohail repeatedly, but his phone had been switched off since the incident. Initially, they assumed he was at work and unaware of the tragedy. However, alarming details later surfaced.
“One of Sohail’s friends, a rickshaw driver, told us that a day before the murders, Sohail said he was going to Karachi and asked for a ride to the bus station. But later, the friend saw him boarding a bus to Lahore instead of Karachi. He had planned everything and fled after killing them,” Khurram alleged.
A history of violence
Sohail and Hajra married in 2014. At first, Khurram claimed there were no major family disputes, but later admitted there were signs of domestic abuse.
“Everyone knew Sohail was not a good person. He would start fights over small things. There were incidents where he had beaten Hajra too,” Khurram said.
He expressed grief and anger.
“Sohail did something very cruel,” he said. “He killed his own children and wife. Then after poisoning them, he even covered their bodies with plain clothes.”
“The post-mortem has been done but the reports are yet to be received. The police are investigating, but they have not arrested Sohail yet,” Khurram added.
Motive still unclear
Khurram says the motive behind the murders remains a mystery.
“We have no idea why he did this,” Khurram said. “Only Sohail can explain his actions once he is in custody.”
Family was ‘ideal’, no conflict found
Mangla Police Station SHO Mudassar Abbas confirmed to Voicepk that the Punjab Forensic Science Agency (PFSA) team had reached the crime scene and collected all possible evidence.
“PFSA reached the scene and collected all the possible evidence. Three of them have been poisoned. The post-mortem has been done, and we are awaiting the reports. The suspect Sohail is at large but the police will arrest him soon,” Abbas stated.
He further added that the suspect’s disappearance appeared deliberate.
“It has been a little difficult for us to apprehend him because he fled the scene and his phone is continuously off. It seems as if it were pre-planned murders. We will get to him soon.”
On the question of motive, Abbas explained that the investigation had so far revealed no prior domestic conflict.
“According to our investigation, there is no motive for poisoning the wife and two children. Their family seemed to be an ‘ideal’ family, and there had been no conflict, but we are still on it to find anything in this regard.”
He said the family was completely unaware of any issues and that Sohail became a prime suspect after his sudden disappearance following the deaths.
“The family had no clue, and we suspected Sohail because he went missing after the death of his wife and children.”