Bankrupt man tries to kill his wife, children; surrenders

In a shocking incident a 48year-old man, who is undergoing acute financial crunch, tried to kill his wife and three children in Goregaon west in the wee hours of Wednesday. The cries of his wife and children alerted neighbours who informed Goregaon police and took them to nearby Sidhdharth hospital for immediate medical help.

The conditions of wife and teenager son are said to be critical.

The police said the accused Umesh Gupta runs a lottery shop in Pathanwadi of Malad (East). “Umesh lives with his wife, two daughters and one son on the seventh floor of SRA building on Aarey Road in Goregaon (west). He is bankrupt and has suffered heavy losses in his business,” said senior inspector of Goregaon police station Dhanaji Nalawade.

“At around 1:30am on Wednesday, Umesh got up and first attacked his wife Bindu (42) who was sleeping with him in the bedroom. She was stabbed in her abdomen, neck and leg. When she screamed, their daughters Nikita (24), Ankita (22) and son Aniket (16) woke up and rushed to help their mother. The children fought with the father who attacked them too. Both the daughters have received head injuries whereas the son’s right hand got fractured in the melee. Son’s head also got injured,” he said. Looking at the violent face of father, the daughters came out of the house and knocked the doors of neighbours for help.

“Everybody was sleeping and the blood-curdling shriek pierced the night. We all rushed for help and entered their house. The blood was spilled all over the floor as well as the passage. We took mother and her children to nearby hospital,” said one of the neighbours of Gupta.

After the bloody attack, the accused fled from spot and later surrendered before Goregaon police.

“Gupta family never fought with anyone. They have been living in the building for nearly a decade. The elder daughter Nikita is a Chartered Accountant (CA) whereas the younger one is pursuing the course of CA. We don’t know if Umesh has incurred huge loss in the business,” the neighbour added.

The police said Umesh had bought two knives and kept the weapons at home to commit the crime.

“Daughters are out of danger but wife and son are in critical condition. All the injured were first shifted to Cooper Hospital but due to unavailability of beds they have been shifted to SRV Hospital in Goregaon west,” police said.

The police have recovered two knives from the spot and the house has been sealed for further investigation.