KASUR: A man slaughtered his wife and three minor daughters in the wee hours of Monday on the pretext of saving his honour.

His three sons aged between eight and 15, asleep in another room, remained safe.

Police arrested the suspect from the crime scene in Basti Sabri locality, seized the murder weapon and registered a case againsthim.

Muhammad Hanif, a gardener in a school in Kailo village, his wife Shahida Bibi and their six children had moved to a rented house here a year back after migrating from Kailo village.

Hanif also ran a small shop in the drawing room of his house to supplement hisincome.

In the early hours of Monday, Hanif slaughtered Shahida, 40, Samra, 12, Laiba, 14, and Tayyaba, 16. Neighbours were alerted when Laiba and Tayabba raised hue and cry in an attempt to save themselves, as Hanif had already murdered Shahida and Samra.

According to witnesses, when neighbours reached their roofs, Hanif had murdered Laiba and Tayyaba also. On seeing them, Hanif waved the chopper at them, lit a cigarette and started talking to someone on the phone,they added.

Meanwhile, a neighbour alerted the police who arrived at the scene, arrested Hanif and seized the weapon.

Area residents said Shahida and her daughters hardly visited any of their neighbours and even the suspect behaved normally with people in the locality. A few days ago, Shahida had received about Rs350,000 from her parents as her share in property, and neighbours suspected Hanif was demanding more. They also claimed that at the time of arrest, the police recovered the amount from Hanif`s pocket.

The police said the suspect did not resist while being arrested and remained calm. They said he had even confessed to his crime, and that the motive seemed to be honour.

Hanif told the media he was suspicious of his wife`s character and had killed her in the name of honour. Regarding his daughters, he said he feared they would also follow in their mother`s footsteps while he would be in jail.

According to complainant Abdul Ghafoor, the brother of Shahida, the suspect had killed his wife and daughters as she would ask him to give her money to run the house.

The police were looking into the matter from various angles.