B’lore: Couple in debt poisons kids, ends life

TOI

Bangalore, 11 Sep 2012: A weaver and his wife allegedly poisoned their two children to death before hanging themselves from the ceiling fan of their Weavers’ Colony residence near Hulimavu, off Bannerghatta Road, late on Monday.

 

Manjunath Shivaiah, 39, and his wife Satyavathi, 37, ended their lives after killing Prithivraj, 11, and Rishika, 7, as the family had incurred huge debts. The boy studying in Class V and the girl in Class II at Holy Spirit School, Kalena Agrahara, near their residence. Satyavathi was a garment factory employee.

 

The incident came to light on Tuesday when Manjunath’s landlord, Nagaraj, went upstairs to alert his first-floor tenant to fill up drinking water. The main door was slightly ajar, Nagaraj stepped in and saw the two children lying motionless on a mat in the hall. The eerie silence made Nagaraj suspect something amiss. He walked into the bedroom and saw Manjunath and Satyavathi hanging from the fan.

 

The bodies were in deep embrace and hanging from the same rope. A piece of paper on the bed told Manjunath’s tragic story. In his suicide note, he explained why they were driven to take the extreme step.

 

Nagaraj rushed out and realized that the children were dead. He called police and other neighbours.

 

The couple was determined to take no chance in executing what appeared an elaborately thought-out plan. Police said the children appeared to have been first fed food laced with poison, and then smothered, as the parents wanted to ensure they didn’t survive.

 

Preliminary investigations revealed that Manjunath was in a financial crisis. Manjunath owned a power loom but after suffering losses in the business, he sold it to repay some debts. He later took up a job as a weaver, but faced with financial constraints, quit last year and started a bakery near his house. "He suffered huge losses in the bakery business. He had raised Rs 10lakh in loans from private financiers, friends and relatives," Shivaiah said about his elder son’s travails.

 

Plan in place on Monday

Manjunath and Satyavathi had made all arrangements to execute their plan to kill their two children and end their lives on Monday evening itself. They ensured that Manjunath’s parents, Shivaiah and Lalithamma, were not at home at the time.

 

Lalithamma said Satyavathi forced her to visit her younger son Girish’s house in Cubbonpet on Monday evening and stay overnight. "My husband had gone to Cubbonpet in the morning for some work. Satyavathi asked Shivaiah also to stay back at Girish’s place," she said.

 

’A damaged future’

Manjunath’s suicide note in Kannada ran into two pages. Excerpts:

"I suffered huge financial losses in my life due to various reasons. I had to raise loans to look after my family. I was unable to repay my loans even after selling my assets. I don’t have the face to show the world. I and my wife had a tough choice to make when we decided to end our lives. If we spare our children, they will have to live like orphans... with uncertainty and taint all their lives. We are killing our children as we don’t want to leave them with a damaged future. We are responsible for our deaths. Please don’t trouble anyone in this connection."