Pune man kills 2 kids, wife; ends life

Pune: In a shocking incident, a Pune man killed his wife and two daughters and later committed suicide on Sunday morning. Though the reason is unknown, it is said that debts had caused the man to take the drastic step.

Dipak Sakhahari Hande (42), a resident of Telco Colony in Dattanagar, Katraj, smothered to death his homemaker wife Swati (35) and two daughters Tejas (16) and Vaishnavi (12) with a pillow around 5 am on Sunday.

Dipak, a native of Sangamner who worked as a labour in Sant Tukaram Cooperative Sugar Factory in Pune, later hanged himself from a ceiling fan with nylon rope.

Vaishanvi was a class 2 student in Podar International School and Tejas was a class 10 student in Hujurpaga School, Katraj.

Speaking about the ghastly incident, Srikant Shinde, police inspector, crime, Bharati Vidyapith police station, said, “A suicide note found out at the house says nobody is responsible for the killings and suicide. However the note also mentions the list of people from whom Dipak had taken loans. The police suspects that Dipak killed his family and himself as he was not being able to return the amount he had taken from his friends and relatives.”

The police also said that, according to Srikant Koyale, a neighbour, the Handes’ house remained closed at 10 am on Sunday, while the family usually rose between 7 am and 8 am. Hence, Mr Koyale rang doorbell and called out to Dipak, but nobody responded. Hence he broke down the front door only to find the family dead. Mr Koyale then informed the police.  

A post-mortem report confirmed that the girls and woman were smothered to death and Dipak died from hanging. The police has invoked Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code for murder against Dipak.