Techie kills wife, daughter, hangs himself
Bengaluru (BM): An unemployed software engineer allegedly committed suicide after killing his wife and two-year-old daughter at his residence in Someshwaranagar in Yelahanka New Town.
The deceased have been identified as Amith Jha (35), his wife Meenakshi Jha (30) and their daughter Anisha. Police said the reason behind the murders and suicide was marital dispute. The killer husband had quit his job four years ago and was a habitual drinker, police said.
According to preliminary investigation, Amith first fed his wife and daughter poison and then strangulated them; later he committed suicide by hanging himself from a ceiling fan. Amith and Meenakshi, both B-Tech graduates, had come to the city a few years ago and started working.
Amith was a software engineer, but he quit his job four years ago. Since then Meenakshi was working at a play school near Dairy Circle in Yelahanka New Town.
After the job loss, Amith had turned into a habitual drinker and used to spend his wife’s earnings on liquor. The couple used to fight over this and other issues.
Meenakshi had informed her parents and her in-laws about the state of affairs, but they had counseled them to stay together.
On Monday, when Meenakshi failed to turn up at the play school, the management called her up but got no response.
Around 7 pm, an ayah from the school visited Meenakshi at home but found the door locked. She left but came back later to find that the door was locked from inside. Suspecting something fishy, she alerted the neighbours, who in turn alerted the landlord who stays nearby.
When there was no response to repeated knocks on the door, a few people climbed a neigbouring building and managed to open a window of the deceased couple’s house.
Through the window, they saw Amith hanging from the fan. Yelahanka police reached the spot around 10 pm and broke open the front door.
They found Meenakshi and the baby dead on a bed in a room. Deputy commissioner of police (north-east) PS Harsha said, “We have got confirmation about Amith strangulating the duo, we have also collected the samples of the materials and food available and have sent it to forensic science laboratory to find out whether he fed them poison before strangulating them to death.”
An investigating officer said according to doctors it looked like he fed them poison and since he didn’t want his wife to make any noise and alert the neighbours, he strangulated them.
Local residents told police that they last saw Meenakshi last on Sunday night around 10.40 pm. They heard the couple fighting but since it was a regular thing they didn’t take it seriously.