4 min readHyderabadJun 25, 2026 10:29 PM IST
First published on: Jun 25, 2026 at 06:11 PM IST
A peaceful, hardworking family with no known feuds or enemies — that’s how relatives describe small-time businessman Mohammed Sultan’s family. So how Sultan, his wife and their two children ended up stabbed to death and wrapped in blankets inside their home in Telangana Colony in Nalgonda district baffled police for three days.
The bodies of Sultan, 45, wife Haseena, 40, son Muzammil, 20, and daughter Afsara, 16, were found in a highly decomposed state on Monday, with police estimating they were murdered on June 20. As investigators dug deeper, they say they uncovered a simmering property dispute, leading to the arrest of Bushra, Haseena’s daughter from her first marriage, her husband and at least four alleged “supari” killers.
“The savagery with which they had been stabbed indicated that this was an act of revenge stemming from a deeply personal enmity. But we were unable to find any clues about any dispute Sultan or Haseena had with anyone,” said an official at Nalgonda 1 Town Police Station, where a case was registered.
That changed when investigators dug deeper into the family’s background, eventually arresting the estranged daughter, her husband and four alleged hired killers.
According to police, Sultan, who sold handbags at Prakasam Bazaar in Nalgonda town, married Haseena after his first wife died several years ago. Muzammil and Afsara were from his first marriage. Sultan was Haseena’s third husband after her two previous marriages ended in divorce.
Police said Bushra and her husband were angry that Haseena retained a 150-square-yard plot and gold ornaments worth around Rs 50 lakh, given to her by her first husband, and refused to transfer them to Bushra. Relations between mother and daughter had allegedly deteriorated after Bushra married an autorickshaw driver against Haseena’s wishes, and Bushra believed her mother would eventually leave the property to her stepchildren, Muzammil and Afsara.
During questioning, police found that Bushra and her husband had allegedly broken into the house two months earlier to steal Haseena’s gold ornaments but found none.
Police allege that the couple then hired a Hyderabad-based “supari” gang of history-sheeters, instructing them to kill the family as brutally as possible. Using mobile phone data and location records, investigators found that Bushra’s husband had visited Sultan’s home a day before the murders and shared information about when all four family members would be at home.
The gang allegedly conducted a recce a few days before the murders, studying the movements of Sultan; Haseena, who taught at a private school; Muzammil, an AC technician; and Afsara, a student at the same school.
Bushra, her husband and at least four alleged hired killers are in Nalgonda Police custody and are being interrogated to establish the sequence of events.
According to police, the four assailants knocked on Sultan’s door in the early hours of Saturday. When Haseena opened it, they barged in and stabbed her seven times in the chest and abdomen.
Muzammil, who woke up during the attack, put up a fight. He was found with his throat slit and 16 to 20 stab wounds across his body. Sultan had seven stab wounds to his chest and abdomen.
Police said Afsara tried to hide under her bed. She was allegedly dragged out by her hair and stabbed to death while half her body was still under the bed.
The killers allegedly then ransacked the house, apparently searching for the gold ornaments, but found none. They wrapped the four bodies in blankets, locked the house and gate from outside, and fled.
On Monday, a neighbour alerted the 1 Town Police Station after noticing a foul smell from the house. Police arrived within 15 minutes and made the gruesome discovery.
The police said the killers allegedly ransacked the house, apparently searching for the gold ornaments, but found none. (File photo) 
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