UP: Man kills 10 family members including 9 minor girls, commits suicide

Amethi (UP): A 50-year-old man allegedly killed 10 members of his family in Amethi of Uttar Pradesh, including 9 young girls, before hanging himself to death.

According to reports, the bodies were found inside the family’s home with their throats slit.

Jamaludeen allegedly gave a sedative to the family after dinner on Tuesday night, calling it a medicine for good health during the winter season.

After the drug took effect, Jamaludeen killed everyone sleeping in the verandah, including his daughters and nieces aged between five and 17, reports said.

Jamaludeen’s 40-year-old second wife Zahida and daughter Afsaar, 20, were unhurt as they were sleeping in another room with the door shut from the inside.

Samsudeen and Raees, the unemployed younger brothers of Jamaludeen, as well as Raees’ wife survived as they were not at home.

Among the dead were Jamaludeen’s five other daughters — Tabassum, Afreen, Mariam, Sania and Ujma, said reports.

Samsudeen’s 35-year-old wife Hussaina Bano, their daughters Rubina and Tahseen, and Raees’s daughters Mahek and Nijar Fatima were also killed.

After killing his family members, Jamaludeen then committed suicide, alleged his second wife and daughter.

But discovery of two bloodstained butcher’s knives has made the police suspicious.

“Why would Jamaludeen use two draggers if he singlehandedly killed the children and his brother’s wife before committing suicide,” inspector general of police A Satish Ganesh was quoted as saying.

Jamaludeen’s autopsy report would ascertain whether he too was killed and hung from the ceiling, the police said.

Police will question the two women and Jamaludeen’s brothers to try to reconstruct the sequence of events and uncover the motive, said reports.

His brothers claim that Jamaludeen, who ran a battery and gas refilling shop at his village in the Sukul Bazaar area, was prone to strange behaviour. However, police noted that he had strained relations with his brothers.

A forensic team is due to arrive in Amethi from Lucknow, and an expert will be present during the postmortem examination of the bodies on Thursday, police said.