Financial stress behind Ambala murder-suicide: probe

The 34-year-old man, who was the branch manager at a private insurance firm in Yamunanagar, allegedly strangled his parents, wife and two minor daughters before hanging himself back in August

Almost two months after six members of a family were found dead at their home in Ambala’s Ballana village, the police probe has so far established that the sole breadwinner of the house took the extreme step owing to stress over personal and financial liabilities.

Almost two months after six members of a family were found dead at their Ambala home, police probe said the financial stress is likely to have been the cause. (HT File)

The 34-year-old man, who was the branch manager at a private insurance firm in Yamunanagar, allegedly strangled his parents, wife and two minor daughters before hanging himself during the wee hours of August 26. A suicide note was also recovered from his pocket.

The note mentioned two names — Balkrishna Thakur, his reporting manager and Kavi Narula, owner of a private two-wheeler agency in Yamunanagar — accusing them of demanding ₹10 lakh from him “forcefully”.

The deceased is said to have feared that the duo might harm his family if he was to not make the payment and mentioned Thakur often threatening to fire him. While Thakur was arrested a day after the murder-suicide, Narula has been on the run since.

Following the gruesome murder-suicide, superintendent of police Jashandeep Singh Randhawa announced formation of a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the matter. Days later, a trial court rejected Narual’s first anticipatory bail.

Police sources said loans worth nearly ₹15 lakh had been disbursed to the deceased since February 2017, with an outstanding balance of ₹13 lakh and a monthly EMI of ₹33,000. The loans included personal, consumer and six credit cards including a Kisan credit of ₹5 lakh.

The probe also found that three bank accounts owned by the deceased had a balance of less than ₹8,000. His wife also had bank credits amounting to around ₹1 lakh against a bank balance of ₹10,000.

The deceased’s brother-in-law, also the complainant in the case, had earlier told the police he loaned the family ₹2.5 lakh in August. The probe also found that the deceased had borrowed ₹4 lakh from two other relatives, and had an unsettled amount pending with an insurance company and vehicle agency.

Investigators believe that the financial implication of the increasing liabilities added to the victim’s stress.

Speaking of the same, superintendent of police JS Randhawa said the team that visited the crime scene had earlier ruled out any external entry into the single storey house.

“Food and other samples were taken from their house. During the autopsy, viscera samples were collected and were sent to lab testing in Madhuban. The reports are still pending and teams are trying to nab Kavi Narula,” the SP added.