Rs 20 crore debt, 'I have consumed poison'... : How Mittal family's suicide pact unfolded in Panchkula

The tragic death by suicide of seven members of a family in Haryana’s Panchkula has left the residents in the area shaken. Six people were found dead inside a car parked in Panchkula, while one died on the way to a hospital, with the police suspecting it to be a suicide pact.

 

The deceased were identified as Praveen Mittal, 41, his wife Reena, the couple's three minor children, and his parents.

 

"Prima facie, it appears to be a matter of suicide. However, further investigations are on," said Panchkula Deputy Commissioner of Police Himadri Kaushik.

 

Mittal and his family had reportedly attended a spiritual event at the Bageshwar Dham. They allegedly consumed poison on the way back.

 

The car was parked in a residential area in Panchkula's Sector 27 and was spotted by a passerby who was out for a walk late last night. A towel hanging out from one of the doors of the Dehradun-registered car caught his attention.

 

He found six people lying motionless in the car, with vomit on them. One – who was identified later as Praveen Mittal – was alive but breathing with difficulty, and the passerby raised an alarm. A video of him sitting in a dazed condition on the pavement near the car has gone viral on social media.

 

Mittal, reportedly, told those gathered there that his family was in huge debt and he had consumed poison and would die in five minutes. Though the locals and police reached all the family members to a nearby private and civil hospital, they were declared brought dead.

 

"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," DCP (Crime), Panchkula, Haryana, Amit Dahiya told PTI.

 

Police have reportedly seized a suicide note from the car. According to an NDTV report, the family had requested in the note that the last rites be performed by Mittal's cousin Sandeep Agarwal.

 

Reports say that Mittal, who hails from Barwala in Hisar, used to own a scrap factory in Baddi, Himachal Pradesh, but had accrued debt of around Rs 20 crore. The factory was subsequently seized by the bank, along with his two flats and vehicles. With financial troubles mounting, he left Panchkula and moved to Dehradun.

 

He later moved to Kharar in Punjab, and then Pinjore in Haryana, where he stayed with his father-in-law, before returning to Panchkula a month ago. He was currently working as a taxi driver in Panchkula's Saketri region.

India