A 49-year-old man stabbed his wife to death and tried to kill his 14-year-old daughter over a financial issue in their rented house in Mathikere, near Yeshwantpur in North Bengaluru, early on Wednesday.
Though the accused wanted to kill himself after his wife and daughter, he changed his mind and surrendered before the police.
The deceased has been identified as Anusuya, 42, her daughter as Sahana, studying in class 9. She is being treated at a hospital and is out of danger. The accused is identified as Dhanendra, 49. The family is from Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh and has been staying in the city for many years. The couple got married 15 years ago.
Police said Dhanendra and Anusuya, both tailors, were running a shop near their house. Dhanendra had taken a loan of around Rs 2.5 lakh from different people. Anusuya objected to him not clearing the loans and often got into arguments with him over it. She would argue with him over keeping money for their daughter's future.
Police said for four months now, Dhanendra felt like killing his wife and their only daughter before killing himself as she was pressuring him to clear the loans and save money. He made up his mind over the last one week. Dhanendra got drunk on Tuesday night. He stabbed his wife in the throat around 3.30 am, while she was asleep he stabbed his daughter on her cheek. An inebriated Dhanendra did not realise he had stabbed her in the cheek.
The girl feigned to be dead fearing her dad may stab her again. Dhanendra tried to strangle her but she lay still. Dhanendra thought his daughter was dead. Though he wanted to kill himself, he could not to do it. He stayed in the house for a few hours. His daughter woke up around 6.30 am. Dhanendra noticed her alive and confessed about his plans.
He told her that he cannot kill her and he himself called the police control room and informed them about the incident. He waited for Yeshwantpur police to detain him. A case of murder and attempt-to-murder has been registered against Dhanendra.
Dhanendra confessed to using two different knives to stab his wife and daughter. He felt the knife was not sharp to stab his daughter. He took another knife from the kitchen, but that knife was not sharp either.
During interrogation, he confessed that he wanted to return to their native as their income was hit after the pandemic. But, Anasuya insisted that they stay back. He decided to kill her after she did not relent, he said.