Ambala family deaths: Private insurance company official held

Balkrishan Thakur, who is currently posted as senior executive in the company in Ambala and is a permanent resident of Gurugram, will be presented before a magistrate on Sunday, a police spokesperson said

: The police on Saturday arrested a senior official of a private insurance company in connection with the deaths of six members of a family in Ambala’s Ballana village.

Ambala family deaths: Private insurance company official held

Balkrishan Thakur, who is currently posted as senior executive in the company in Ambala and is a permanent resident of Gurugram, will be presented before a magistrate on Sunday, a police spokesperson said.

Six members of a family, including two minor girls, were found dead on Friday in their home. The 34-year-old man, who is suspected to have strangulated his elderly parents, 30-year-old wife and two minor daughters before hanging himself, was a branch manager of the company in Yamunanagar and was reporting to Thakur.

The deceased had mentioned Thakur’s name along with one Kavi Narula, owner of a private two-wheeler agency in Yamunanagar, in a suicide note recovered from the house.

As per the note, the man alleged that Thakur and Narula were demanding ₹ 10 lakhs from him “forcefully”, and he also had apprehensions that if the amount is not paid, they might harm his family.

The note also mentioned an equal distribution of land and money that belonged to him and his father, among his two nephews.

Ambala superintendent of police Jashandeep Singh Randhawa said, “as per initial probe, there was some unsettled amount between the insurance company and the vehicle agency that was asking for the money which was not being paid. Details will get clear during the course of the probe.”

Investigators said that the pending transaction involved some coupons that were agreed upon between the companies mutually, amount of which still remains unverified.

Eventually, the coupons were given or used somewhere else by the deceased and the agency was claiming money instead, while the boss was asking to settle the matter, which must have led to the whole incident, it has been learnt.

Meanwhile, the village, situated 8 kms from district headquarters, remained grief-sticken and deserted. The relatives and neighbours have demanded “justice” for the departed family. All the members of the family were seen as introverts with a clean image.

However, mystery shrouds on how the man strangled his family members without any help, even when there was exchange of calls till late night, probably due to younger daughter’s birthday and the man handing over a garden trowel to a neighbour around 6 am without opening the main gate, sources said.

The autopsies conducted at the district civil hospital has ruled out any foul play, but there is a growing suspicion that some poisonous substance may have been fed to the family, which will be clear after the testing of viscera. Some food and milk samples were collected by the police teams from the house on Friday.

Political leaders like INLD supremo OP Chautala and former union minister Venod Sharma also met the grieved relatives and expressed their condolences. ENDS