Hyderabad: Unable to clear debts, IBM techie kills wife, two kids & self

HYDERABAD: A 36-year-old software engineer working with IBM killed his wife and two children before committing suicide at his home in Hyderabad apparently because he was unable to repay a loan of Rs 22 lakh.
Police said the four died at their home in LB Nagar’s Hasthinapur area on Saturday but relatives came to know only on Monday. LB Nagar police identified the dead as K Pradeep Kumar, wife Swathi (28) and their children Kalyan Krishna (6) and Jaya Krishna (18 months). Cops said Pradeep first poisoned his wife and kids and then killed himself a few hours later.
The house where Pradeep and his family lived; the techie and his family
In his suicide note, found in a diary in the house, Pradeep said he made some hasty financial decisions because he wanted to start his own company and clear his pending home loan. Police officials added that Pradeep had also made various other investments, but the details were not known. “We seized his laptop and phone to get leads about his investments,” inspector Ashok Reddy said.
Sources said that Pradeep may have borrowed money from private money-lenders as well, some of whom may be pressuring him to return the money. The suicide note, however, makes no mention of this.
“I wanted to do something in life,” the suicide note in Telugu reads. “I did not want to depend on my job and wanted to own a company. For this, I wanted to earn money and, at the same time, clear my house loan. To meet these wishes, I made hasty decisions. At an age when he I should be looking after my parents, I became dependent on them. If only I commit suicide, my wife and children would be completely dependent on my parents.”
At 3 am on Monday, Pradeep’s brother-in-law Satish Kumar approached the police seeking their help. Satish had gone to Pradeep’s home because the family had been inaccessible for the past two days. He had broken a windowpane and found Pradeep lying on the floor in the drawing room on the first floor of the house. When police broke open the door, they found the bodies of Swathi and the children in the bedroom.
“We are still trying to find out what poison Pradeep used. We are waiting for post-mortem report which will confirm if he mixed the poison in the family’s dinner or used some other method,” said Reddy.