CAR WITH 8 OF FAMILY FOUND IN CANAL
Kurukshetra April 1:
An entire village in Kurukshetra watched in stunned horror as the local administration, on Monday, fished out from the deep waters of Bhakra canal a Maruti car with eight members of a family, dead inside, in what, obviously, was a suicide pact.
The recovery of the bodies, belonging to a famous trader from Pehowa village, Mamchand and his family, from the bed of Narwana branch of the canal near Jyotisar head, seven km from Kurukshetra, confirmed the fears that the family embraced death after being dogged by financial issues. However, many believe that the women, decked up in jewellery, were kept in the dark about Mamchand's deadly intentions.
The tragic incident goes back to March 16, when Mamchand, who used to run a rice mill, set out with wife Nirmala Devi, two sons Amit Kumar and Pradeep Kumar, their wives Seema and Babli, and three granddaughters Nanci, Nishika and Eshika in his Maruti car, leaving behind a hand-written suicide note that they were going to end their lives at Bhakhra canal.
While accusing 21 persons, whose names he scribbled on a wall in the house, of pushing them to this state, he mentioned that he found it extremely difficult to get back the money he had loaned others, while he himself was reeling in debt. There were unconfirmed reports that one of his sons was being harassed by the police at Pehowa on behalf of some persons who had lent him money.
Monday's development put the total number of bodies recovered from the canal at 19. While a search was made on March 18, the police failed to make any headways and also did not register any case against the 21 persons named by Mamchand. Many thought that the family might have decided to leave the village for good because of mounting debts and that the suicide note was a cover up. However, on Saturday, eight bodies were spotted in the Bhakra-Karnal link canal and one of those was identified as that of Pradeep by a relative.
With the police still refusing to accept the same, the relative's family on Monday hired an expert tracer, Jit Ram, from Mustapur village, who helped to ultimately unravel the mystery. Boatman Rajesh along with divers Kuldeep Singh and Madan Lal from Kurukshetra Development Board were called at noon to make a search at the spot mentioned by the tracer. Hundreds of villagers had, by them, collected and were left speechless when divers fished out the car (HR-41B-1166) from the bottom of the canal.
A crane was pushed into the service and the car was fished out at about 5 pm in the presence of Haryana agriculture minister Harmohinder Singh Chatha, who represents Pehowa constituency. While Mamchand and Amit were pulled out from the front seats, Nirmala, Seema and Babli, with Mamchand's three granddaughters in their lap were recovered from the rear seat. The morbid sight led to relatives losing their cool over, what they termed, an indifferent attitude of the police at Pehowa in the whole incident. They also gheraoed the minister and did not allow the bodies to be taken to hospital for a post-mortem.
They finally relented with Chatha and superintendent of police Amitabh Dhillon assuring an inquiry into the suicide and action against SHO, Pehowa, Mohinder Singh. The bodies were later brought to PGI, Rohtak. The police believed that the body of Pradeep might have slipped out from the car.
Source : Punjab Mail Online
Kurukshetra April 1:
An entire village in Kurukshetra watched in stunned horror as the local administration, on Monday, fished out from the deep waters of Bhakra canal a Maruti car with eight members of a family, dead inside, in what, obviously, was a suicide pact.
The recovery of the bodies, belonging to a famous trader from Pehowa village, Mamchand and his family, from the bed of Narwana branch of the canal near Jyotisar head, seven km from Kurukshetra, confirmed the fears that the family embraced death after being dogged by financial issues. However, many believe that the women, decked up in jewellery, were kept in the dark about Mamchand's deadly intentions.
The tragic incident goes back to March 16, when Mamchand, who used to run a rice mill, set out with wife Nirmala Devi, two sons Amit Kumar and Pradeep Kumar, their wives Seema and Babli, and three granddaughters Nanci, Nishika and Eshika in his Maruti car, leaving behind a hand-written suicide note that they were going to end their lives at Bhakhra canal.
While accusing 21 persons, whose names he scribbled on a wall in the house, of pushing them to this state, he mentioned that he found it extremely difficult to get back the money he had loaned others, while he himself was reeling in debt. There were unconfirmed reports that one of his sons was being harassed by the police at Pehowa on behalf of some persons who had lent him money.
Monday's development put the total number of bodies recovered from the canal at 19. While a search was made on March 18, the police failed to make any headways and also did not register any case against the 21 persons named by Mamchand. Many thought that the family might have decided to leave the village for good because of mounting debts and that the suicide note was a cover up. However, on Saturday, eight bodies were spotted in the Bhakra-Karnal link canal and one of those was identified as that of Pradeep by a relative.
With the police still refusing to accept the same, the relative's family on Monday hired an expert tracer, Jit Ram, from Mustapur village, who helped to ultimately unravel the mystery. Boatman Rajesh along with divers Kuldeep Singh and Madan Lal from Kurukshetra Development Board were called at noon to make a search at the spot mentioned by the tracer. Hundreds of villagers had, by them, collected and were left speechless when divers fished out the car (HR-41B-1166) from the bottom of the canal.
A crane was pushed into the service and the car was fished out at about 5 pm in the presence of Haryana agriculture minister Harmohinder Singh Chatha, who represents Pehowa constituency. While Mamchand and Amit were pulled out from the front seats, Nirmala, Seema and Babli, with Mamchand's three granddaughters in their lap were recovered from the rear seat. The morbid sight led to relatives losing their cool over, what they termed, an indifferent attitude of the police at Pehowa in the whole incident. They also gheraoed the minister and did not allow the bodies to be taken to hospital for a post-mortem.
They finally relented with Chatha and superintendent of police Amitabh Dhillon assuring an inquiry into the suicide and action against SHO, Pehowa, Mohinder Singh. The bodies were later brought to PGI, Rohtak. The police believed that the body of Pradeep might have slipped out from the car.
Source : Punjab Mail Online
