A 37-year-old software engineer in Ghaziabad, Sumit Kumar, allegedly killed his wife and three young children on Sunday, IANS reported. Kumar confessed to the crime in a video that he shared on his family WhatsApp group, said the police.
The police also said that Kumar lost his job in Bengaluru and was facing a financial crisis, which could be the reason for the crime. He had been out of work since December, but his family only came to know about it in March.
Kumar allegedly offered a drink laced with sedatives to his wife and three children, at around 3 am on Sunday at their flat in Indirapuram. The eldest child was five years old, and the other two were four-year-old twins. The family stayed in the flat with Kumar’s in-laws who had gone out to attend a wedding ceremony.
Shortly after, he shared a video on WhatsApp claiming he had killed his family and would commit suicide soon. According to Hindustan Times, he also stated that he had purchased potassium cyanide to kill himself.
The Hindustan Times report also says that upon seeing the video, Kumar’s elder sister alerted his brother-in-law, Pankaj Singh, who rushed to the flat.
“I found the door locked. I called the police who broke it open. We found the body of my sister and her three children with stab injuries,” Pankaj Singh told HT.
A man-hunt has been initiated by the police to find Kumar. “We are trying to trace Sumit. His mobile phone is switched off,” said Shlok Kumar, Superintendent of Police (city).
The bodies have been sent for autopsy and an FIR has been registered, the SP added.
(With inputs from IANS, Hindustan Times)
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