Delhi: Man poisons family, kills self over financial distress; wife critical

A 40-year-old man allegedly fed his two children and his 38-year-old wife a drink laced with a poisonous substance at his workplace

A 40-year-old man and his two children died after he allegedly fed his 15-year-old daughter, 16-year-old son and 38-year-old wife a drink laced with poisonous substance and consumed the same himself at his workplace in Sangam Park around 8am on Monday, Delhi Police said.The children died during the course of treatment in the afternoon and the man died late evening, while the wife remains critical, they said.

The couple remains critical, but the children died during treatment, police said. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Police said they suspect financial distress to be the motive behind the incident, and that an orange liquid recovered from the spot was sent for forensic analysis to check for poisonous substance.

Deputy commissioner of police (northwest) Bhisham Singh said that their control room received a call from a woman around 9.30am, seeking help for her brother and his family, who were lying unconscious at a manufacturing unit in the Sangam Park industrial area.

The DCP said preliminary inquiry revealed that the man operated a bike-horn manufacturing unit in the industrial area. “They arrived at the unit around 8am. It is suspected that all four family members inhaled a poisonous substance inside the premises. Subsequently, one of the children informed relatives, who then alerted emergency services,” DCP said.

A senior police officer aware of the matter said that the son called his maternal aunt, who lives in north Delhi, and told her that their father had given all of them a drink, and that his parents and sister fell unconscious after drinking it and also that he was feeling uneasy.

After police were informed, the four of them were shifted to Bara Hindu Rao and Deep Chand Bandhu Hospital.

The senior officer cited above said that the man used to run a business of exporting motor parts in partnership with a relative until about a year ago and the family used to live at a rented house in Mahendru Enclave, northwest Delhi. The children used to attend different private schools. However, due to personal reasons, the man and his relative parted ways and the man started his own business of manufacturing horns about a year ago.

“When we spoke to the woman, who gained consciousness for a brief while in the hospital, she said that the new business didn’t do well and they fell on bad times. Recently, they were not able to even make ends meet,” the officer said.

The officer said that according to the information shared by the woman, the family was unable to pay the rental for their house and shifted about a month ago to Nangloi, where they own a small house. “They were also not able to pay schools fees for the kids and travelling to their school from Nangloi was also difficult,” the officer said.

When asked why the family chose the workplace to take action, the woman allegedly told police that on Sunday night, the family roamed around all night and spent time in a religious place, where they decided to head to the manufacturing unit.

Police said that according to the woman, the children were aware that they were being fed a poisonous substance but since they were minors, their consent had no legal value. “Inquest proceedings have been initiated, and we are seeking legal opinion for further action. No case has been registered so far,” the senior officer said.