Hours after he regained consciousness, he revealed his plan to the police which originally included claiming his own life after killing his family members. (Photo: File/Representational)

Mumbai: Umesh Gupta (45) — who was arrested early on Wednesday when he surrendered himself to the Goregaon police after allegedly trying to murder four of his family members — had planned the attack by purchasing two sharp knives from a Malad store days before the attempt. Gupta allegedly planned to kill himself after killing his family but when the time came to claim his own life, he developed cold feet. Gupta said that his incurring of losses in business was behind such a step as he wanted to prevent his family from suffering.

Primary investigation revealed that Gupta had purchased two sharp knives from a Malad-based shop a week ago, and stored them in a cupboard drawer. On Wednesday, when he approached the police to surrender himself, he kept blabbering something which made no sense as he was in an inebriated state. Hours after he regained consciousness, he revealed his plan to the police which originally included claiming his own life after killing his family members. He told the police that in the past four months, he had incurred losses in the lottery business and could no longer support his family and hence, decided to kill them to save them from misery.

A police officer said, “After committing the crime however, when it was Gupta’s turn to commit suicide, he chickened out and surrendered to the Goregaon police instead.”