BENGALURU: A 38-year-old software consultant and his wife died by suicide after killing their two children in Bengaluru on Sunday night. Financial burden and emotional stress are said to have forced the couple to take the extreme step.
Preliminary investigation suggested Anup Kumar and Rakhi (35) poisoned their five-year-old autistic daughter Anupriya and two-year-old son Priyansh, before hanging themselves. The family was from Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh, and was staying in a rented house in Sadashivanagar.
On Monday, when a woman employed by the couple to take care of the children came for work, she discovered Anup hanging and raised an alarm. Neighbours rushed in and found the others dead in another room. The woman, Reshma, told police she was asked to come a little early as the family had planned to leave for Puducherry. Police checked Kumar's laptop and mobile phone and found that he had sent an email around midnight to his elder brother Amit.
Based on the contents of the mail and the statements of those known to the family, police said Anup's financial troubles began after his maternal uncle Rakesh lured him into investing around Rs 25 lakh on a piece of land in Prayagraj to start a petrol bunk in 2018. The business remained a non-starter and his hard-earned money was stuck.
After Anupriya was admitted to a pre-school, the couple got their daughter's medical examination done on teachers' insistence. The results suggested she was autistic. Most of Anup's salary was spent on daughter's treatment. The financial strain took a toll on his mental health. Going by the circumstantial evidence, police said the couple had planned and prepared to take the extreme step.