Woman dentist, minor daughter found hanging in Bengaluru apartment

BENGALURU: A 36-year-old woman dentist and her 10-year-old daughter were found hanging at their residence in Banashankari. It is suspected that the mother killed her daughter before hanging herself, but the reason for the extreme step is yet to be ascertained.

The deceased have been identified as Shyma Muthappa and her daughter Aradhana, a Class-4 student. The family lived at Kaverinagar in Banashankari. Police said the incident took place on Saturday morning, when Shyma’s husband, Dr Narayana Swamy, also a dentist, had gone to the clinic he runs in Hanumantha Nagar. At around 11 am, Swamy rushed home from the clinic as his wife was not answering his phone calls. As she failed open the door, he broke it open with the help of the apartment complex’s security guard, to find his wife and daughter hanging in a room. The matter was reported to the police.

“Prima facie, it appears that the woman hanged her daughter before hanging herself. However, we are awaiting the post-mortem report to know the cause of death. No suicide note was found in the house. The husband is in a state of shock and we are yet to question him about the reasons that led to the incident. They were married for more than 12 years and it is suspected that some domestic row might have led the woman to take the extreme step,” the police said.

Shyma’s brother Sharath, who lives in Australia, filed a complaint on Monday suspecting that Shyma could have murdered her daughter. “We had taken up an unnatural death case earlier. Based on the post-mortem report, we will decide on registering an FIR,” the police added.

(Suicide helplines -- Maithri, Cochin: +91 239 6272; Sumaitri, New Delhi: 2338 9090, Sneha, Chennai: 91-44-2464 0050, 91-44-2464 0060, Aasra, Mumbai: 9820466726, Fortis MentalHealth: 8376804102)