Loss of gold worth Rs 60,000 proved heavy mental burden

Loss of gold worth Rs 60,000 proved heavy mental burden
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MUMBAI, MARCH 1: The loss of 165 grams of gold, worth about Rs 65,000 weighed so heavily on Shantibhai N Jhagde's mind that the 44-year-old jeweller prepared poison tea for himself and two of his three daughters who were at home on Wednesday evening. His wife and the third daughter escaped the gruesome consequences of his troubed mind simply because they were not at home.

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Four copies of a suicide note addressed to his wife Hemu,(41), his brother Dayabhai, the police and another relative were found in the house by the police .

The Borivali police said that Shantibhai Narayan Jhagde and wife Hemu lived at Mahavir Nagar in Borivali along with their three daughters, Sheetal (21), Trupti (14) and Jeenal (11). Jhagde had a jewellery shop on Swami Vivekanand Road in partnership with his elder brother Dayabhai, who stays at Goregaon.

According to the police who have pieced together the chain of events, Wednesday appeared to be just another routine day when s Hemu Jhagde stepped out of the house to do some shopping while Sheetal, the eldest daughter, went to visit her uncle. Shantibhai came home for lunch and his two other daughters had returned from school. It is believed that Shantibhai then made himself the fatal cuppa -- tea laced with some unidentified poison. He drank it himself and also gave some to his two daughters.

His wife Hemu who returned some time later had to force the door open when no one answered the ringing bell. She immediately called the neighbours when she saw the bodies of her husband and one daughter slumped on the floor and that of another daughter on the cot in the drawing room. A local medical practitioner came in and declared all three dead.

The police in their inspection found four copies of a suicide note allegedly written by Shantibhai saying he had recently lost about 165 grams of gold in a deal. This had caused a loss of Rs 65,000. Since he was unable to find any way of making good this loss, he had decided to commit suicide, the letter adds. However, there is no mention why he included his teenage daughters in the suicide.

The police also found two cups of tea and a steel glass and a vessel that had been used to prepare the tea in the kitchen. A polythene bag was found on the kitchen table and on inspection it was found to contain an unidentified white powder --suspected to be a cyanide compound.

While the autopsy examination has been done, the cause of death is pending following chemical analysis. Police sources say they suspect some kind of odourless poison was used to lace the tea.

There are no marks of struggle or injuries on the bodies of either the daughter or the father, which indicates that either they were all three part of the suicide pact, or that the daughters were not aware of the poisoned tea, the police explained.

Inspector Dyaneshwar Shinde, Borivali police station, said there does not appear to be any kind of foul play in the case. However the police are baffled why the jeweller committed suicide for such a small amount. Also, the four copies of suicide notes that have been recovered have all different dates on them. Detailed investigations will be carried out to rule out all the possibilities before arriving at any conclusion, he added.