New Delhi: With the hope of finding a new job and giving his wife and daughter a good life, 38-year-old Arvind Pathak had come to the capital two months ago. But his dreams were soon shattered due to the ongoing recession as he failed to secure employment. On Tuesday, Pathak allegedly gave dinner laced with poison to his 11-year-old daughter Abhishi, strangled his 35-year-old wife Mamta and himself consumed sulphas tablets. All three were found dead at their house in Mahipalpur Extension near Vasant Kunj early morning on Wednesday.
An MBA from a private college in Bihar, Pathak used to work with a leading departmental store of readymade garments in Jaipur before it closed down two months ago. The police seized a two-page suicide note from his house. ‘‘I am taking this extreme step as no one has been able to understand my financial position,’’ it read. His daughter was studying at Mount Abu Public School in Rajasthan. Mamta used to teach at a school in Kapashera but she, too, lost her job recently.
On the day of Dussehra, Pathak asked his wife — who was at her parental house — to come back and got Abhishi home the next day. On Tuesday, he allegedly poisoned his daughter and put her to sleep. A few hours later on Wednesday morning, he strangled his wife and then consumed sulphas tablets, said a police officer. The cops seized a rope from near Mamta’s body while several poisonous sulphas tablets were recovered from the house.
Police said there were ligature marks on Mamta’s neck indicating she was strangled. Her body was found in the basement of their under-construction house. The incident came to light at 3.05am when Pathak came out of the house screaming that he had poisoned his family.
‘‘We were all sleeping when there was a noise. I rushed out and saw Arvind asking for water. Before we could understand anything, he collapsed. We later called the police and informed his younger brother,’’ said Jeet Negi, his neighbour. His younger brother, Akhilesh Pathak, who works with Hotel Taj at IGI Airport, refused to comment.
Akhilesh told police that for the last few months the two brothers had not been on talking terms. ‘‘He also told us that Arvind was under debt and had borrowed money from his relatives in Bihar. He was in depression,’’ said an officer.
Locals said the family had recently started building the house. Pathak had only got the basement built while the first floor was being constructed. ‘‘Money for this was being provided by his father Umashankar Maharaj, who retired from Coal India Limited and stays in Muzaffarpur. A postmortem will be carried out once his father arrives,’’ added the officer.
source: TOI