Two men kill their families in Assam

In a tragic coincidence, two men in Guwahati and Karbi Anglong districts of Assam murdered their wives and children on the same day. While one killed himself, the other surrendered. 

Police said Pranab Mahanta, living in Banphoolpath in Guwahati’s Hatigaon area, killed his wife and two children before jumping off the Saraighat Bridge over the Brahmaputra. 

A businessman of repute in the locality, Mahanta is said to have lost money in some high-stake investment in the last few months and was reeling under severe debts, police added. 

While bodies of Mahanta’s wife and children –a daughter and a son—have been sent for post-mortum, search is going on for the man’s body in the Guwahati stretch of Brahmaputra.  Police have launched a probe on the triple murder and suicide, stating that they are questioning friends and family members.

Police suspect Mahanta killed his wife and children while they were asleep on Friday night and later drove to the Saraighat bridge to end his life. They found his car near the bridge. 

Also on Friday night, a man in Dokmoka in Karbi Anglong district bordering Nagaland hacked his wife, son and daughter and surrendered at the local police station. Police sources said the man has been arrested.  

Meanwhile, police recovered a powerful Improvised Explosive Device (IED) in Khanamukh locality on the outskirts of Guwahati following information gathered from interrogating an arrested ULFA cadre.