LUCKNOW: A family of five was found dead with gunshot injuries to the head in Saharanpur on Tuesday morning, hours after the head of the family sent a distressed voice note to a relative saying, “Mere se bohot badi galti ho gayi hai, me kya karu (I’ve made a big mistake, what do I do).”
Police recovered the bodies, including that of a couple, from a house in Kaushik Vihar colony under the Sarsawa police station area of the western Uttar Pradesh district.
The deceased were identified as land surveyor Ashok Rathi, 40, his wife Anjita, 35, his mother Vidyawati, 70, and their two sons, Kartik, 16, and Dev, 14.
All five bodies were found in the same room. Three loaded pistols were recovered next to Ashok Rathi’s body, police sources said.
According to Saharanpur Senior Superintendent of Police Ashish Tiwari, the police received information in the morning about the discovery of five bodies in a room of their house in Kaushik Vihar colony in Sarsawa.
On receiving the information, Saharanpur DIG Abhishek Singh, SSP Ashish Tiwari and SP Rural Sagar Jain, along with a forensic team, arrived at the scene to commence the investigation.
The SSP said that all the deceased had gunshot wounds on the head and that the shots were fired from very close range.
Police said their preliminary investigation indicated that Ashok was reportedly undergoing treatment for depression and they suspect that he may have allegedly shot his family members before turning the gun on himself, leading to his death by suicide.
He said the recovered pistols were country made weapons and an investigation was on to ascertain whether they were licensed.
Police were gathering information about Ashok Rathi and his family background, and scanning CCTV footage from the surrounding area, the SSP said.
The recovery of the five bodies and the pistols in the same room would be investigated from every angle, and the forensic team had also collected samples from the scene for examination, he added.
Citing the investigation so far, the SSP said that Ashok Rathi had received the land surveyor’s job on compassionate grounds after his father’s death and was working in Nakur tehsil. His two sons were studying in Classes 10 and 11.
The police sealed Ashok Rathi’s house to ensure that the investigation was not affected at any level.
All five bodies have been sent for post mortem examination, police said.
Giving details of the incident, the SSP said that around 3 am on Tuesday, Ashok Rathi sent a voice note to one of his relatives in which he sounded distressed. “Mere se bohot badi galti ho gayi hai, me kya karu (I’ve made a big mistake, what do I do),” he is purportedly heard saying.
According to the police, the incident came to light when a relative of the deceased family, who lives nearby, knocked on their door multiple times but received no response. He then attempted to enter the house by climbing the building but was unable to gain access.
He subsequently informed the police. A team of officers rushed to the spot, broke open the door and found all five bodies lying in a pool of blood in a single room.