Couple faces arrest for killing daughter
MUMBAI: Eighteen days after they entered into a suicide pact and ended up killing their seven-year-old daughter at a hotel in Mira Road, the couple is still admitted to a hospital while awaiting their psychological assessment.
Doctors at Tembha hospital in Bhayandar West said after 10 days of psychological evaluation they would submit a report to police based on which the couple would be arrested.
“We have flushed out the poison from their bodies and are conducting their psychological assessment. After 10 days of keeping them under observation and evaluating their mental condition we would submit a report to police,” Dr Dyaneshwar Sanap said.
The couple has been booked for murder and attempting suicide under sections 302 and 309 of the Indian Penal Code.
Ryan Stephen Joseph Bracko stayed with his wife Poonam, 30, daughter Anayka, and mother in a two-bedroom flat at Sai Milan society in Vasai East. An employee of RSVP production house, the 37-year-old Ryan had a habit of frequenting bars in Mira Road and Dahisar and had run up a debt of ₹50 lakh.
Ryan sold his flat, which was on loan, and moved into a rented apartment at nearby Everest Heights. “Ryan took ₹32 lakh from the buyer of the flat and instead of paying the bank he cleared his debts. The buyer started pestering Ryan for the ownership documents from the bank,” said A Sai, Ryan’s estate agent from Evershine City.
Assistant police inspector
Sudarshan Potdar from Kashimira police station said Ryan had confided to his wife about his debts but had not revealed where he had spent ₹50 lakh.
Police said when Ryan realised that he had to pay the bank to get the ownership documents, he convinced his wife to end life. Two days before, they picked up their daughter from Ryan’s brother’s house at Andheri. “Why did he have to pick up his daughter from my house? If he wanted, he could have gone ahead and killed himself. Why did he have to kill Anayka?” Ryan’s brother Derick said. On May 26, the family checked into a hotel. Ryan went out to buy pesticide, but could not find it. The couple moved into another hotel the next day, and Ryan bought half a litre of pesticide and rat poison along with two knives and a bottle of vodka.
While Ryan mixed the pesticide for himself and his wife in the vodka, he asked Poonam to feed Anayka the pesticide directly. “Anayka was not drinking the pesticide so I had to force it down her throat,” said Poonam, a school teacher, in her statement.
Anayka began feeling suffocated while Poonam started vomiting and Ryan suffered loose motions. “For two days Anayka was suffocating while the couple kept trying to consume the pesticide with vodka and soft drinks,” a police officer said.
On May 28, Anayka started bleeding from her mouth and stopped breathing. When the couple realised that they were alive, they tried to revive her but in vain. “Ryan then told Poonam that he would go onto the railway tracks and end his life by suicide and if she survived, she should tell police and hotel staff that he had forced them to consume pesticide and fled,” Potdar said. The next day, Poonam told hotel staff that her daughter had been killed by her husband.
“We traced Ryan to a lodge near Mira Road station. We will arrest the couple after we have received their psychological assessment report,” Potdar said.