An entire family of five lost their lives in a span of a few hours in Tirupati district of Andhra Pradesh. A man allegedly killed his wife and mother and later died by suicide. His two children, who reportedly tried to stop him, were crushed to death under a train.
The incident occurred at Venkatakrishna Palem panchayat in Narayanavanam mandal on Wednesday, April 22.
Police shared the details of the incidents on Thursday, April 23. A middle-aged man, identified as Mohan, allegedly killed his wife and mother by strangulating them with a piece of cloth at his house at Chakali Veedhi in Venkatakrishna Palem.
Mohan’s wife Harita (33) used to run a tailoring shop and a beauty parlour. Mohan's mother Chandrakala was 65.
After allegedly killing the two women, Mohan picked up his son Kaushik (14) and daughter Harini (12) from their school in Puttur. He told the teacher that their grandfather had met with an accident.
The killings came to light when Harita’s brother Balakrishna went to the house. Balakrishna was helping Mohan in running a cement shop at Narayanavanam.
Mohan had left the shop saying he would bring lunch for his brother-in-law. When Mohan did not return after a long time and his mobile phone was also switched off, Balakrishna went to the house to check on him but was shocked to see Harita and Chandrakala lying dead.
Balakrishna alerted the police, which formed special teams to trace Mohan. The teams searched for him at Puttur, Nagari and other places in the district.
Police investigations revealed that after picking up his children on his motorcycle, Mohan took them around in Chittoor and Tirupati districts and around 7.15 pm, reached Vepagunta railway station in Puttur mandal. After parking his vehicle, he along with the children went to the railway track. He then died by suicide on the tracks.
The children reportedly tried to pull him away and all of them were crushed under the Egmore-Kacheguda Express running at a speed of 100 km per hour. The loco pilot informed Puttur station master that three persons died on the railway track.
The killing of the two women by Mohan and his suicide remain a mystery. Preliminary investigation by police revealed that Mohan had no financial problems. As he owed some money to his sister, he had reportedly given cash to a relative on Wednesday morning to hand over the same to her.
Narayanavanam police have registered a case and taken up an investigation. Railway police registered a separate case about the death of Mohan and his two children on the railway track.