AHMEDABAD: Seven members of a family, including three children, were found dead at their residence on Palanpur Jakatnaka Road Surat city of Gujarat on Saturday, with the police suspecting it to be a case of mass suicide.
A preliminary investigation by the police revealed that six of them died after consuming poison, while one hanged himself to death. The bodies of the seven deceased were found in an apartment in Adajan locality, police said, adding that a note was also recovered from their house which says that the family was taking an extreme step out of financial distress.
According to the police, the deceased persons were identified as Manish Solanki, his wife Rita, their three children, Disha, Kavya, and Kushal, Manish's mother Shobha and his father Kanu.
The matter came to light when Manish Solanki's employees tried to contact him on Saturday morning. As the former did not respond to the calls, they alerted the neighbours, who called the police.
It is suspected that Manish Solanki, who worked as an interior designer, allegedly poisoned his family and later took his own life. The police also recovered a suicide note from the house.
While speaking to the media, Surat Police Commissioner Ajay Tomar said, "As per the note recovered from the house, the family took the extreme step out of financial distress caused after being unable to recover money lent to someone, he said adding that a bottle, which apparently contained the poisonous substance, has also been recovered.
Talking about the suicide note, the commissioner said, “During the preliminary investigation, police discovered a suicide note from the body of Manish Solanki, which stated, "I behaved very well with
everyone, I helped everyone, but people did not treat me like I treated them." As a result of this trauma. I'm taking this step.”
The deceased did not mention anyone's name in his suicide note, the police said. A case has been registered and investigations are underway.