Hyderabad: Man who smothered wife, 2 children, arrested

Hyderabad: A dental technician who smothered his wife and two children to death reportedly after slipping into depression owing to financial losses was arrested on Wednesday, Meerpet police said.

The accused Malle Harinder Goud told the police that he had smothered his wife Jyoti, 35, son Abhi Tej, aged six years and daughter Sahastra, four-years-old, with a pillow.

Harinder said that since the last few years, the dental lab he had set up at Malakpet was not getting good returns. Hence, he closed it down three months ago. At his house, he often quarrelled with his wife over financial issues.

“On Sunday, the couple quarreled over some issue in the house and later they went to sleep. Between 5 am and 6 am, the man called his wife into a room and attacked her. Using a pillow, he smothered her. He also hit her with a marble stone on her arm and jaws, resulting in her death. Later, he moved in the bedroom where he smothered his son and later daughter with a pillow. To ensure that the children died, the man also throttled their necks,” said DCP L.B. Nagar, M. Venkateshwar Rao.

The police said that the parents of Jyoti were helping Harinder financially after he wounded up his dental clinic three months ago. The family members told the police that they had also helped him financially when he demanded money from them to meet his personal expenses.

A few days ago, elders of both the families had counselled Harinder to behave properly and not quarrel with his wife over financial problems. “The man might have slipped into depression as he was not earning for the last three months. The parents of his wife were offering him with financial support,” the police said.