Daijiworld Media Network – Tumkur (SP)

Tumkur, Jul 15: On Wednesday July 14 morning, the policemen found the bodies of Mahesh (40), and  his wife, Radha (30), residents of Indiranagar, Tiptur,  floating in Ayyanabhavi tank, nine kms away from their home. They later found that the couple had killed their two children, Devika (11) and Sushmita (7), by gagging and strangulating them on Monday night. Before that, they had fed food laced with poison to the two girls, and when the children started to vomit blood, they were gagged and strangulated, the policemen said.

The duo initially tried to hang themselves through a sari thereafter, at their home. They chose not to do so, later. After spending the night in the company of the corpses of the two children, they went about the town on Tuesday and jumped into a tank at night, it is learnt.

In a death note left behind, the two said they alone were responsible for their deaths. They also blamed Mahesh’s parents for not helping them out in times of financial crisis, and said they were frustrated at not being able to earn the blessings of Javagal Chowdeshwari, to whom they had offered puja for driving away their problems. They believed their problems would have been ended, if their close relatives had joined them while offering puja to the Goddess. Mahesh used to trade in copra at Mallikarjuna Swamy Temple in Tiptur, and had been suffering losses continuously. The problems of the couple worsened, after Mahesh’s mother, Subhadramma, demanded the possession of the house in which the family was living, by approaching a court on Saturday last.