IIT lab asst hung self three hours after wife and mother: Autopsy

Two days after a 35-year-old senior lab assistant at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi, was found hanging, along with his wife and mother at their house within the campus, their initial autopsy reports showed a time gap of three hours between his and the two women’s deaths, the police said. The police are trying to string together the sequence of the three suicides.

The reports also confirmed that the three died of hanging and ruled out the possibility of any foul play. The autopsy on the three bodies was conducted on Sunday by a panel of doctors formed by the Delhi government since the couple’s had been married for less than seven years. Their bodies were handed over to their family members.

A police officer associated with the case said that the autopsy reports of the lab assistant’s 32-year-old wife and 68-year-old mother showed they allegedly hanged themselves almost at the same time in separate rooms, while he allegedly killed himself around three hours later. The food residue found in their bodies was similar, suggesting that they had eaten the same meal.

“Prima facie, it appears that the lab assistant found his mother and wife hanging after he returned home in the night. Instead of informing anybody about the incident, he hanged himself as well,” said the officer, who did not wish to be named.

Investigators suspect that the man deliberately left the main door open so that their bodies could be discovered.

The police added that the couple, who got married in February, often fought, and the wife’s family had recently complained to the police about the man’s tendency for domestic violence. The police suspect that one such fight between the couple on Friday may have instigated the hangings. No suicide note has been recovered from the house.

First Published: Jul 29, 2019 08:32 IST