BELAGAVI (Karnataka): Grieving the death of his wife due to black fungus, a retired serviceman and his four children died by suicide in a village under Hukkeri Taluk, police said on Saturday.
According to the police, Gopal Hadimani (46), along with his four children - Sowmya (19), Shwetha (16), Sakshi (11) and Srijan Hadimani (8) - consumed suicide on Friday night.
Neighbours grew suspicious when none from the family was seen out this morning and alerted the police who, in turn, informed relatives.
The relatives said Hadimani was shattered after his wife died of black fungus as an after-effect of COVID-19 in July.
"He and his children often used to tell us that they cannot live without his wife," a relative told reporters. The relative said the children had spoken to her on phone without giving any inkling of taking the extreme step. Police said they were probing into the matter.