Man mows down two daughters under truck, later kills self by jumping before it

A 40-year-old man allegedly killed his two daughters by mowing them under the wheels of his truck and later killed himself by jumping before the same vehicle at a village in Pune district of Maharashtra early on Sunday, police said.

The deceased, Bharate Barate, was angry over his 18- year-old elder daughter chatting with a boy on phone and her younger sister supporting her, they said.

The deceased girls were identified as Nandini Barate (18) and Vaishnavi (14), police said, adding that Barate had even written a suicide pact note that he along with his wife and two daughters are ending their lives.

The incident took place around 1.30 am on Sunday in Induri village of Maval tehsil in the district.

"Barate was a driver and owned a truck. On Saturday, he caught his elder daughter chatting with some boy on her phone. Losing his temper over it, Barate beat her up. He was upset over her behaviour," senior police inspector Pradip Londhe of Talegaon MIDC police station said.

As per the statement given by his wife, after beating the daughter, he was also seen writing on a piece of paper on which he also took a signature of his wife, which she did without reading its contents.

"At 1 am on Sunday, Barate got up and went outside. After some time, he came back and took both the girls out of the house. After hearing the sound of the truck, his wife also woke up and came out. He had made his two daughters lie on the road and was driving the truck towards them. According to the woman, Barate even signalled her to join them," the officer added.

But by the time she ran to seek help from her relatives who live nearby, Barate had mowed them under the truck. Later, he also jumped before that moving vehicle and died, he said.

"They found both the girls and Barate dead on the road," he said.

Police said they are trying to find out why the girls did not try to run away from the spot after seeing the truck approaching as they were not tied.

"While Barate and his younger daughter Vaishnavi died on the spot, Nandini died in a hospital," the officer said.

Londhe said that in the suicide note, he had written that his daughter's behaviour was inappropriate and no one should be held responsible for the deaths.

"We have registered a case against Barate under section 302 (murder) of IPC and investigation is on," he said.