Debt trap: 6 of family found dead in car in Haryana's Panchkula; another dies on way to hospital

The car was parked in a residential area in Panchkula's Sector 27 and was spotted by a passerby late last night.

Chandigarh: Six members of a family, including three children, were found dead inside a car in Haryana's Panchkula, while another died on his way to a hospital, police said on Tuesday, suspecting a suicide pact.

A suicide note found from the car pointed to the family being under financial stress. The deceased were identified as Praveen Mittal (41), his wife Reena (40), their three minor children -- twin girls Dalisha and Dhruvi (11) and son Hardik (13) -- and the man's parents, Desraj (70) and Vimla (68).

The car was spotted late on Monday evening by a passerby, who even exchanged a few words with the family member who died last. The man (Praveen Mittal), who was breathing with difficulty, told Puneet Rana, who lived nearby, that his family was under a huge debt, the family members had committed suicide and he too would die in another five minutes.

The car with a Dehradun registration number was found parked on the roadside in a residential area in Panchkula's Sector 27 adjacent to a vacant plot of land.

Rana, a local, told reporters that he was out on a walk with another person and they spotted the car around 10 pm with a towel hanging out from one of its doors.

Rana said he found the car unlocked and opened one of the doors. The man inside told him that he could not get a hotel room while returning from a Bageshwar Dham event in Panchkula and hence, he and his family were sleeping in the car.

Rana said when he pointed a torch towards a window of the car, he saw six people lying motionless on each other with vomit on them.

His suspicions stoked, Rana helped the man out, gave him water and asked him if he had killed the other occupants of the car.

"He then told me that all his family members had committed suicide and he too was going to die in five minutes. And then he collapsed," Rana said.

"Before collapsing, he said he owed a lot of money to banks. He said their relatives were rich but were not helping," he added.

By this time, a crowd gathered and alerted police. Though police reached the spot fairly quickly, the ambulance took around 40 minutes to arrive, Rana said.

An elderly man, whose house is near the spot where the car was parked, also reached the scene moments before Mittal collapsed.

He told reporters that he asked Mittal why did he do so, to which he said he had a huge debt.

After the postmortem conducted by a board of doctors at the government hospital in Panchkula, the bodies were handed over to the relatives of the deceased, a police official said, adding that their last rites were performed at Manimajra in Chandigarh on Tuesday evening.

Panchkula Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Himadree Kaushik said, "Prima facie, it appears to be a matter of suicide. However, further investigations are on." She said six occupants of the car were taken to a private hospital, while one was taken to the civil hospital. "All seven died," the officer added.

The cause of the deaths appears to be poisoning, police said.

DCP (Crime), Panchkula, Amit Dahiya told reporters that two suicide notes were found from the spot -- one from the car's dashboard and another one from a notebook kept in a bag in the vehicle.

Dahiya said while he could not disclose the exact content of the notes, the crux of the note found from the dashboard was that the family took the step due to financial issues.

Who wrote the suicide notes is a matter of investigation, he said, replying to reporters' questions.

Earlier in the day, Dahiya told PTI, "We are investigating the case from all angles. We are questioning people in the area and going through CCTV footage." Police are also going through the social media accounts of the deceased and their bank transactions, he said.

Dahiya said five police teams have been formed, of which one each has been sent to Dehradun and Pinjore to carry out investigation.

Mittal's father-in-law, Rakesh, told reporters in Panchkula that he came to know about the incident when police reached his house in Pinjore at 4 am.

He said he was not in touch with the family for some time, though he used to help them with money earlier.

Asked where the family could have been on Monday evening, he said, "I have been told that they had gone for a Bageshwar Dham event in Panchkula." The family was living in Panchkula's Saketri area now, he added.

He also said that Mittal might have taken a loan. "As much as I could help, I helped," Rakesh said.

Sandeep Aggarwal, who lives in Ludhiana, told PTI Videos that his cousin, Praveen Mittal, was not doing well financially and would refuse help whenever he would offer it.

At the time of his death, Mittal was driving a taxi to make ends meet, he said.

Some other relatives said he was into the tours and taxi business.

Aggarwal said police told him that his cousin left a note behind for him.

"The note says I should be informed and asked to perform the last rites and that no action should be taken against his father-in-law," he said.

Aggarwal said at one point, Mittal had a debt totalling Rs 15 to Rs 20 crore, "but it was an old matter" and banks had seized whatever they could to settle it.

Aggarwal said his cousin used to run a factory several years ago. He then moved to Dehradun 10 years ago without informing anyone.

"Six years ago, we got a phone call that they were living there," he said.

"A year ago, they came to Kharar in Punjab. Praveen found it difficult to pay the rent there and moved to Pinjore to stay at his father-in-law's house for some time. But they did not get along and then the family moved to Saketri," he said.

Aggarwal said he was shocked when he got the phone call informing him about the deaths.

"Initially, I thought it was a prank call," he said.

Talking to reporters in Panchkula, Ankit Mittal, Praveen Mittal's nephew, said he had met his uncle during a wedding in Delhi on April 30.

"There was no such discussion that he was upset with something recently. He seemed to enjoy the wedding," Ankit said.

He said nearly 15 years ago, his uncle used to run a scrap-material processing factory, a business in which he suffered losses that led banks to take action, but things were settled.

Meanwhile, police in Uttarakhand's Dehradun said till eight-nine months ago, the family used to stay in a rented accommodation in the city.

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Dehradun, Ajay Singh Bisht said the family used to stay in the Kaulagarh area of the city.

He said the car in which the deceased were found was registered in the name of Gambhir Singh Negi, a resident of Dehradun's Maldevta area.

Negi has told police that he got to know Mittal when the latter used to work for an NGO called Wildlife Care Mission and had helped him get finance for the vehicle.