A 48-year-old man was arrested for allegedly murdering his son and for the suicide of his wife over the family being neck deep in financial debt in Bengaluru.
Suresh Babu along with his wife Geetha, daughter, 17, and son, 12, planned on taking the extreme step of ending their life after the family-run chit fund business suffered heavy losses. The family resided at Vibhutipura, HAL. Suresh was also working as a sales executive at a private firm and Geetha used to work as a domestic help to make the ends meet.
During the early hours of Sunday, the family planned to end their lives. Suresh ended his son's life by hanging him from the ceiling and his wife took the next turn. But the incident took a different turn after his daughter who was afraid of all that was going around alerted the neighbours, who prevented them from committing suicide, claimed Suresh. They owed nearly Rs 5 lakh to the depositors who had invested in the chit fund.
On Sunday, Suresh told the police that his wife and son had ended their life. But by afternoon, a video was circulated in the area that was shot by his daughter, questioning Suresh's claim. His daughter had filmed the whole incident of Suresh tying a knot around her brother's neck and hanging him followed by her mother.
The disturbing 3-minute 47-second video shows Suresh forcefully hanging his son from the ceiling fan on a saree as his wife and daughter can be seen crying. The girl is heard pleading in Marathi with her father to leave her brother alone. But a determined Suresh kicks the stool under the boy.
What raised suspicion here is that Suresh is later seen sitting next to his son while the boy lies on a bed, raising suspicion that he was first smothered to death and then tied to the ceiling fan. The video ends with Geetha snatching the phone from her daughter's hand.
According to police, the family was from the Maharashtra-Gujarat border region. However, Suresh has been arrested and is being interrogated by the police. Deputy Commissioner of Police (Whitefield division) Abdul Ahad, who is investigating the case, said that the video was shot by Suresh's daughter. She might have sent it to someone due to which the footage went viral.
