As Bhopal celebrates Father’s Day, bakeries frost cakes, children queue outside gift shops, and social media floods with tributes. Ties, pens and keychains are wrapped with care. Restaurants prepare “Father’s Day Special” tables. Love and reverence hang in the summer air — at least outwardly.
But for some families, the day brings no celebration. Just silence. Grief. Unresolved rage. In homes torn by addiction, violence or mental illness, the loving father figure is not absent — he is feared. And in rare, horrific cases, he is the killer. Or the victim.
In recent years, deeply disturbing incidents have emerged across Madhya Pradesh and beyond — cases where fathers murdered their children, or children turned on abusive fathers. Though each case differs, together they reveal the slow collapse of familial bonds, worsened by poverty, superstition and untreated psychological trauma.
In Bhopal, tailor Vrindavan Namdev allegedly strangled his 28-year-old son, Hemant — an alcoholic with mental illness. Namdev used a rope, later surrendering to police, claiming years of unbearable stress.
In another case, 82-year-old retired BHEL employee Hari Kishan poisoned his mentally unwell daughter, Chitra, before hanging himself. His suicide note spoke of loneliness, helplessness and despair.
Security supervisor Amitabh Khilwarkar confessed to killing his disabled 8-year-old son before surviving a suicide attempt. He cited poverty and psychological exhaustion.
In one of the most gut-wrenching cases, Vinod Parve killed his two-year-old son Aryan, suspecting his wife of infidelity. He tried to stage it as an accidental drowning and silenced his wife with threats. Police later found signs of prior abuse.
In Barwani district, Sanjay Singh hacked his two children, aged 3 and 5, to death with an axe and left his wife critically injured. The violence, police said, stemmed from marital discord.
But the horror has worked in reverse, too. In Bhopal, a 16-year-old girl turned herself in after killing her alcoholic father with a washing rod. Years of domestic abuse had pushed her over the edge. Police confirmed a documented history of violence.
In another case, a Bhopal man tried to slit his 8-year-old daughter’s throat, blaming her for his wife’s death. She survived and later revealed that he had also murdered her mother.
Elsewhere in the city, a man killed his four-month-old baby during a drunken brawl. He fled but was caught soon after.
Beyond Madhya Pradesh, the pattern repeats. In Haryana, Subhash poisoned and strangled his teenage children after his wife’s suicide. Investigators say he feared abandonment and blamed his relatives. In Muzaffarpur, retired army officer Harendra Singh shot dead his 22-year-old drug-addicted son after an argument. He later surrendered.
In Chhindwara, 22-year-old Dinesh Saryam murdered eight family members days after his wedding. A 10-year-old girl escaped and raised the alarm. Investigators suspect psychological instability.
In Tikamgarh, two sons demanded their father’s corpse be dismembered before cremation, citing a bizarre ritual. Police intervened and conducted standard last rites.
And in Bhopal’s Nawab Colony, nearly two decades ago, four daughters murdered their father and ate his heart during an alleged occult ritual. The paraphernalia found at the scene was chilling. They showed no remorse. The case, long forgotten, remains among the city’s most disturbing domestic killings.
These aren’t just crimes. They’re ruptures — of mental health systems, community safety nets, and homes where violence simmers in silence. Today, as cakes are sliced and cards opened, remember the families for whom Father’s Day is not a celebration — but a wound that refuses to heal.