Debt trap: 6 of family found dead in car in Haryana’s Panchkula, another dies on way to hospital
CHANDIGARH, May 27: Six members of a family, three of them children, were found dead inside a car in Haryana’s Panchkula, while one more died on his way to a hospital, police said on Tuesday, suspecting a suicide pact.
The car was spotted late last night by a passerby, who even exchanged a few words with the family member who died last.
Police identified one of the deceased as Praveen Mittal, 41, the others as his wife, the couple’s three minor children, two of them girls, both twins, and his parents.
The car bearing a Dehradun registration plate was found parked on a roadside in a residential area in Panchkula’s Sector 27.
Puneet Rana, a local, told reporters that he was out on a walk with another person and spotted the car around 10 pm with a towel hanging out from one of its doors.
He said he found the car unlocked and opened one of the doors. The man inside, he said, told him that he could not get a hotel room returning from a Bageshwar Dham event in Panchkula, so he and his family were sleeping in the car.
Rana said when he pointed a torch he had in his hand at the glass, he saw six people lying motionless on each other with vomit on them.
The seventh, the man he was speaking to, was breathing with difficulty.
His suspicions stoked, the passerby helped the man out, gave him water, and asked him if he had killed the people inside.
“He then told me that all his family members had committed suicide and he too was going to die in five minutes. And then he collapsed,” Rana said.
“Before collapsing, he said he owed a lot of money to the banks. He said their relatives were rich, but they were not helping,” he added.
All this while, a crowd gathered and informed the police. Though they reached the spot fairly quickly, the ambulance took around 40 minutes in arriving.
Panchkula Deputy Commissioner of Police Himadree Kaushik said, “Prima facie, it appears to be a matter of suicide. However, further investigations are on.”
She said six of them were taken to a private hospital, while one was taken to the civil hospital. “All seven died” she added.
The cause of death at this time appears to be poisoning, she said.
DCP (Crime), Panchkula, Haryana, Amit Dahiya said. “At the moment, we are investigating the case from all angles. We are questioning the people in the area and going through the CCTV footage.”
Police are also going through the family’s social media accounts and their bank transactions, he told PTI.
Praveen’s father-in-law Rakesh told reporters in Panchkula that he came to know about the incident when police reached his house in Pinjore at 4 am.
He said he had not been in contact with the family for some time, though earlier he used to help them with money.
Asked where the family could have been last night, he said, “I am told that they had gone for a Bageshwar Dham event in Panchkula.”
The family had been living in Panchkula’s Sakreti area, he said.
Sandeep Aggarwal, who lives in Ludhiana, told PTI Videos that his cousin, Praveen Mittal, had not been doing well financially, and would refuse help whenever he would offer it.
At the time of his death, Mittal was driving a taxi to make ends meet, he said.
Aggarwal said police told him that his cousin had left a note behind for him. “The note says I should be informed and be asked to conduct the last rites and that no action should be taken against his father-in-law.”
He said that at one point Mittal owed around Rs 15 to Rs 20 crore, “but it was an old matter” and banks had seized whatever they could to settle the debt.
Aggarwal said his cousin had moved to Dehradun ten years back without informing anyone.
Six years ago, we got a phone call that they were living there, he said.
“A year ago they came to Kharar in Punjab and Praveen found it difficult to pay the rent and then moved to Pinjore to stay at his father-in-law’s house for some time. But they could not get along and then they moved to Saketri,” he said.
Aggarwal said he was shocked when he got the phone call about the deaths.
“Initially, I thought it was a prank call,” he said.
DCP Dahiya said five police teams have been formed, of which, one each has been sent to Dehradun and Pinjore, to carry out investigation. (PTI)
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