A fatal accident, which shocked the Etawah community to the core, was brought to light when local jeweler Mukesh Verma posted pictures of his wife and his children's bodies on his WhatsApp status. Verma, who later attempted to take his own life, was rescued by officers of the railway protection force before he could leap in front of a moving train.
The spine-chilling discovery began on Monday evening when members of Verma's family noticed the shocking images on his WhatsApp status. Panicking, they searched the entire house but found only the lifeless bodies of Verma's wife, Rekha, and their three children—daughters Bhavya (22) and Kavya (17), and son Abhisht (12)—in separate rooms of their four-storey residence.
Confirming the tragedy, Etawah Senior Superintendent of Police Sanjai Kumar said that the deaths were in the wake of a family dispute. The Verma had tried to commit suicide by throwing himself in front of the Marudhar Express train at a station nearby after the incident. RPF officers were fast enough to save him from suicide, however, he received minor injuries during the process.
Authorities claim that the killings were apparently over a family tussle, but no details of the dispute have gone public. The bodies of Verma's wife and children have been taken for postmortem to get more details about the horrific circumstances that led to their deaths.
This incident is part of a recent string of disturbing cases coming from Uttar Pradesh. Last month, a 17-year-old daughter was allegedly killed by a hitman hired by her mother over an amount of ₹50,000. The hitman who was romantically involved with the daughter, killed the mother instead.
Also, two months later in August, two RPF officers were seriously injured in the operation held against the notorious liquor smuggling by the Lucknow unit. The culprit accused of this crime is suspected to have been killed by the Uttar Pradesh police in an encounter.
It is these cases that are highly shocking and have alerted the concern and brought forth this urgent need to address not only the crimes within the communities but also large-scale organized crimes in this region.