Burden of Rs 80 L debt reason for murder-suicide, say police

CHENNAI: The murder of wife and two kids by a techie and his suicide in Pozhichalur was due huge debts and the family had been paying exorbitant interest to more than nine money lenders every week, police sources said on Sunday.

L Prakash, the software engineer, who had used a portable electric saw to kill himself on Friday, after killing his wife and 2 kids with the same tool, had borrowed nearly Rs 80 lakh from many people. He had been struggling to pay weekly interest to money lenders.

Police said due to the mounting debts, he killed his wife P Gayathri (39), his daughter P Nithya Shree (13) and P Harikrishnan (8), leaving a suicide note saying no one was responsible for the deaths. According to the police, Prakash had borrowed money to build their house. He had also taken a loan to buy a car and expand his wife’s business.

Prakash had leased out his newly built house, which was also in the same neighbourhood at Venkateshwara Nagar in Pozhichalur and stayed at a rented house, where the murders and suicide took place. Prakash had carried out this gruesome act on his wedding anniversary on Friday. And police believe that he could have laced soft drinks with drugs to put his family to sleep.

“The cake, drinks seized from Prakash’s house were sent to the forensic laboratory,” police said. The bodies were handed over to the families of Prakash and Gayathri after the autopsy at the Government Hospital in Chromepet on Saturday. Gayatri’s father Ramanan, who reached the house on Saturday morning to give the couple prasadam, found the bodies.