Hyderabad: Financially-distressed techie kills wife, 2 kids and himself

Hyderabad: Reportedly distressed over his poor financial position, a 36-year-old techie working at IBM poisoned his wife and two children before consuming poison himself at his house in LB Nagar. The deceased were identified as Kotra Pradeep (36), his wife Swati (28), son Kalyan Krishna (six) and Jaya Krishna (18 months).

The deaths were discovered on Monday, two days after they occurred.  The incident was reported from Hasthinapuram in LB Nagar.

According to the LB Nagar police, Mr Pradeep, who hailed from Devarakonda in Nalgonda district, was working as a software engineer with IBM and living in his own house.

On Monday morning, Satish, deceased Swati’s younger brother, visited their home after he failed to contact either his sister or brother-in-law on phone. He knocked on the door for more than two hours. When he did not get any response, he grew suspicious and informed the police, who broke open the door and found all four family members dead.

A dairy containing a suicide note and pesticide bottles were recovered from the house.

Bodies found decomposed at home
Mr Pradeep’s body was found on a mat on the ground, in front of his mother’s framed photograph. The bodies of Swati and Jaya Krishna were found lying on the bed, while baby Kalyan Krishna’ body was on the ground on another mat. The bodies were sent to the Osmania General Hospital mortuary for autopsy.

The police said that Pradeep was struggling with debt and going through financial crisis. He said in the note that he had made some wrong choices in attempting to clear debts accrued when constructing a house and in starting his company.

Police said that as per Pradeep’s note he did not want his children and wife to become a burden on his father, who lives in Nalgonda. So, he took the extreme step of poisoning the trio before taking his own life.

Police teams recovered ragi porridge and potato curry, which they suspect were laced with pesticides.

Early investigations revealed that neighbours had seen the family alive on Saturday afternoon, after Kalyan Krishna returned from school. He was still in his school uniform and a target board was on the bed, indicating that the children had been playing.

“A friend of Pradeep’s had called him at noon, but the latter’s voice seemed tense. But he did not reveal anything to his friend,” said V. Ashok Reddy, inspector, LB Nagar police.

He said that Swathi and two children were killed on Saturday afternoon on, while Pradeep killed himself later the same day. The bodies were in a decomposed condition and the doctor opined that the Pradeep killed himself hours after his family.

Pradeep has been charged with the murder of his family, and a case of suspicious death has been registered.