Navi Mumbai: A 35-year-old online trader from Navi Mumbai allegedly strangled his wife and two children to death, before committing suicide at his home in Taloja two months ago. The deaths came to light only when the owner of the flat they were living in went to collect his rent and found their bodies.
The police has also recovered two suicide notes from the flat, in which the man has mentioned that no one should be held responsible for his act. The police said they also found Rs 16,000 in cash, along with some gold ornaments, which according to the suicide notes was payment for the rent that was due.
On Saturday morning, Rajesh Bharadwaj, owner of flat number 502 at Shiv Corner building, Sector 9 in Taloja Phase-1, went to the flat he had rented out to Nitesh Upadhyaya, 35, since September last year. Bharadwaj called Upadhyaya several times to ask for the rent due, but his calls went unanswered. After waiting for almost two months, he went to the flat to check what the problem was. Bharadwaj took the secretary of the building along, and opened the flat with duplicate keys after Upadhyaya failed to answer the door bell.
A foul smell greeted them when they entered, and on checking the bedroom, they were shocked to see four decomposed bodies. The man was hanging from the ceiling fan with a saree tied around his neck, while the other three were lying on the bed. They called the police immediately.
“Looking at the condition of the bodies, it is suspected that before committing suicide, Bharadwaj strangled his wife Babli, 30, and their daughter and son, aged 8 years and 7 years respectively. We have registered an offence under section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code against Bharadwaj and our investigation is underway,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone 2) Ashok Dudhe. The police found a suicide note in the living room, and another in the bedroom, both written in Hindi. The one in the living room states, “We have committed suicide, inside the room there is a letter, money and gold jewellery. Anybody who finds our bodies, please cremate us in accordance with Hindu rituals. We have no one else.” The suicide note found in the bedroom states, “I am Nitesh, committing suicide today along with my wife and children. No one else is responsible for this, and we are doing so as as per our wish.” Police have sent the bodies for post mortem, and is questioning neighbours, security guards and others who knew Upadhyaya, in order to get leads on the possible provocation for the deaths. The police have informed Upadhyaya's family in Delhi who are likely to arrive in the city on Sunday.
