Deep in debt due to online betting, Odisha man kills wife, daughter before suicide

The bodies were found in a car parked near a playground at Banipahada in the Lakhanpur area of Odisha’s Jharsuguda district

Updated on: May 9, 2024, 21:25:50 IST

By Debabrata Mohanty

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BHUBANESWAR: A man in Odisha’s Jharsuguda shot dead his wife and seven-year-old daughter before turning the firearm on himself after losing money in online betting, police said on Thursday.

Police said technical and financial investigation apart from scrutiny of the mobile call records indicated the motive behind the suicide (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Their bodies were found in a car parked near a playground at Banipahada in the Lakhanpur area, nearly six hours after the man is suspected to have killed his family and died by suicide.

Jharsuguda superintendent of police (SP) Smit Parmar said the man is suspected to have been stressed out due to heavy losses sustained in online gambling.

“From technical and financial investigation and the mobile call records, we found that the man was involved in online gambling through different mobile apps. From one of the apps that was checked alone, he lost more than ₹4.2 lakh. He had also taken loans from different places including private money lenders to place bets online,” the SP said.

A preliminary probe established that the man first killed his wife and daughter.

“We have seized the gun used in the crime, cartridges and other incriminating material from the car,” Parmar said.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Debabrata Mohanty
Debabrata Mohanty is a senior assistant editor of Hindustan Times who works as state correspondent from Odisha covering the state's politics, governance, public policy, natural disasters, environment and its society for close to three decades. With his long years of reporting from the state capital of Bhubaneswar, Mohanty has been known as one of the most experienced and credible journalists covering Odisha for the national English dailies. His reporting combines on-ground detail with deep institutional knowledge detailing the state's changing politics, governance issues, administrative reforms and the functioning of its public institutions. He has regularly reported on issues ranging from legislative developments and public policy implementation. Politics is his core areas of expertise as he closely tracks Odisha's political landscape, including the rise and transformation of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), the two principal political parties in Odisha. His long association with the state's political establishment enables him to write on contemporary developments in a larger political context. Mohanty takes a deep interest in writing human interest stories, environmental issues and documenting the impact of cyclones, floods, heatwaves, and other climate-related events in one of the most disaster-prone states. His coverage extends to public health, governance reforms and stories on accountability of government institutions. Before joining Hindustan Times, Mohanty worked with The Indian Express, Mail Today, and The Telegraph, where he covered at least six general elections and as many assembly elections. In 2007, he was selected for the prestigious Chevening Young Indian Print Journalist Programme at the University of Lincoln, United Kingdom, where he received advanced training in print journalism. In 2009 he won the Press Institute of India-International Committee of Red Cross award on conflict reporting for his on-ground reportage of 2008 Kandhamal riots.Read More

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