MUMBAI: The Cuffe Parade police investigating the untimely death of an Indian Navy sailor, his wife and their two children have learnt that the deceased woman had apprehended that her husband could kill her and their children and her father had recently tried to take them away, but was unsuccessful.
Investigators suspect that the sailor first killed his wife and children and died by suicide in the adjacent room a day later, after cleaning the other room and deleting everything from his mobile phone. He had placed a bed against the door of the room where he died by suicide to ensure no one could enter. Since the post mortem reports were inconclusive regarding the exact cause of death, the police are now waiting for forensic laboratory reports of the viscera of the deceased.
As reported by HT on Monday, the 30-year-old sailor, his wife and their two children aged three years and two months respectively were found dead in the sailor’s official residence at Navy Nagar on Sunday, with the police suspecting it to be a case of murder-suicide.
“The woman had called her father a week ago and told him that she was afraid her husband, who was suffering from depression for several months, would kill them. So the father came to Mumbai and tried to take them away, but the sailor got into an argument with him and didn’t allow his wife and kids to leave,” said Manish Kalwaniya, deputy commissioner of police (zone I). The family hailed from Rajasthan and the couple was married for nearly four years, according to the police. They had frequent arguments and their respective families did not talk to each other as the woman came from a poor family, investigators said. Samples of food items and water collected from the sailor’s home have also been sent to the forensic laboratory in Kalina to check if the family was poisoned via food, police said.
The Indian Navy, in a statement on Sunday, said the incident was unfortunate and they were extending all possible assistance to the police for a fair and transparent investigation.
The sailor was under treatment for depression for several months and he used to talk often about death, leading his wife to suspect that he could kill her and their children, the officer noted.
