A 55-year-old PhD holder allegedly killed his wife and two children and later committed suicide at his flat in Uppal South End in Sector 49, Gurugram, said police on Monday.
Though the incident took place on Sunday night, the neighbours reported the matter to police on Monday morning when they did not get any response from the family after knocking on their door.
“A police team, along with forensic experts and dog squad, reached the spot and broke open the house with the help of plumber provided by Resident Welfare Association (RWA) of the society and found the dead bodies of all the four family members. As per the initial investigation, Prakash Singh is suspected of killing his wife Komal, alias Sonu Singh (49), daughter Aditi (21), and son Aditya (12) with a sharp weapon and hammer while they were sleeping,” said a senior police officer.
The family was staying in Gurugram for the past twelve years and was a native of Varanasi in UP. A suicide note reportedly written by Singh was found from his pocket in which he had written, “I am not able to handle his family and was responsible for the incident”.
Singh later hanged himself from the ceiling fan, said police, adding all the family members, except Singh, had multiple stab wounds. Their throats were also slit, police said. The family had four dogs which were sitting nearby the bodies.
A source said Singh first killed his daughter Aditi, whose body was found on the bed after which he killed his wife Komal, whose body was found on the floor of the room and then he killed his son Aditya and left his body behind the door of the room. The three bodies were recovered from the same room.
After killing his family, Singh ultimately committed suicide in the lobby, he said.
“Aditi was asleep when Singh killed her because no struggle marks were found on the body while Komal and Aditya had some struggle marks,” sources added.
Singh used to work in a Gurugram based Pharma Company and was unemployed but was all set to join a chemical factory in Hyderabad in July while his wife used to run a private school at Fazilpur and Sohna in Gurugram and Palwal. She also used to provide free education to poor children. Aditi had completed B.Pharma from Jamia Hamdard University and started her startup. His son Aditya was a student of Class IX at DAV public school.
“We are examining the suicide note left by Singh with the help of handwriting experts to ascertain whether the letter was written by the doctor or someone else. The probe team has also recovered a knife and hummer which was used in the crime. Investigators are continuing to review the evidence. The bodies have been sent for postmortem, said Sulochana Gajraj, DCP (east).
“The family was a very friendly one so it is really painful. We have more questions than answers now as to why this happened. We are in a state of shock,” a neighbour said.
“A case of murder under section (302) and other relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) has been registered at Sector-50 police station against the doctor on the complaint of the deceased’s sister Seema Arora. Further probe into the matter is underway,” the DCP said.