Murder-suicide of debt-ridden family: Five nabbed for abetment

BENGALURU: Five persons, including three women, were arrested on Monday on charges of abetting the murder-suicide of a family in Vibhutipura, near HAL.
On Sunday, Suresh Babu, 48, killed his 12-year-old son. His wife Geetha hanged herself. At the last minute, he changed his mind about killing himself and told police his wife and son had committed suicide. His minor daughter, who filmed the episode on a phone to reportedly tell the world their ordeal, was rescued by neighbours.
She rushed out of the house and screamed for help and neighbours alerted cops.
The arrested - Sudha, Manju, his mother Daisy, Prabhavathi and Ram Bahadur - were Babu's neighbours who had demanded Geetha return their money.
Geetha ran a chit fund and had incurred debts up to Rs 6 lakh. She was forced to take loans to clear the dues. Eventually, the family crumbled under the weight of mounting losses and the ignominy of people coming to the house to claim money.
Babu has been sent to judicial custody. His daughter has been moved to an NGO.
Police registered a case against a TV news channel reporter for allegedly airing the video showing Babu hanging his son.