Engineer ends life after killing wife and four children

An Indian killed his wife and four children, the youngest of whom was eight months old, before hanging himself, in one of the most horrific murder-suicides in the country's history, Gulf News learnt last night.

Mohammad Razi, 38, from the south Indian city of Hyderabad, who used to work as an engineer for a Dubai consultancy company, slit the throats of his wife Afshan, 30, and his children Abdul Hamid, 12, Bushra, 11, Umaima, 6, and Sania, 8 months, in their Sharjah industrial area flat near the BMW Roundabout, relatives and police sources told Gulf News.

The gruesome scene was discovered yesterday afternoon when a worried relative told the watchman the family was not answering the door.

He asked the watchman to open the door but he refused, according to one neighbour.

The watchman called the police who discovered the bodies. The police confirmed the crime but refused to provide details.

However, a relative of the family relayed the story that Mohammad had called his father on Thursday in Hyderabad, and told him that he was returning home the next day.

He said things were not going well for him in the UAE and he didn't want to work here any longer.

When the father failed to see his son arrive at the airport he grew worried and called relatives in Sharjah since Mohammad wasn't picking up his phone," the relative said.

The neighbour described the family as "quiet and religious". They regularly went to the nearby mosque for prayers.

The real motive behind the bloody event remains a mystery since police are still investigating.