A factory owner and his wife allegedly slit their children's throats before jumping from their eighth floor balcony at an apartment complex in Ghaziabad near Delhi this morning. The couple died. A second woman, who was the man's partner in a jeans store, also jumped with them. She died later in a hospital.
The security guard at the apartment complex, Ajaz Karim Khan, saw the two bodies and the injured woman lying on the ground around 5 am on Tuesday, moments after noises from the apartment alerted him. "The incident occurred at around 5 am-5:15 am. I heard some noise and went out to check and saw that three people were lying on the ground. I immediately called my supervisor and called the police," Ajaz Karim Khan told ANI.
When the police went to Flat 806 of the apartment building in Indirapuram, they found two more bodies - a girl, 12, and boy, 11, were dead on a blood-splattered bed.
The police say the couple were steeped in financial difficulties and left what appeared to be a suicide note written on a wall.
On Monday night, they allegedly smothered their sleeping children before slitting their throats.
The three adults then went to the balcony, where the man allegedly made video-calls to his friends, telling them that they were killing themselves because of their financial problems.
The police also found some money that the man wanted spent on their funeral.
"We found the bodies of two children at the flat. A suicide note was also found in the flat along with some money. The possible reason behind the suicide is financial distress," senior police officer Sudhir Kumar told news agency ANI.
The man had a failing business and several cheques had bounced recently, according to the police.
He had allegedly been cheated of two crores by a man.
According to neighbours, the family had recently moved into the society.
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