Bank officer kills wife, daughter in Lucknow

A Punjab National Bank (PNB) officer, who was undergoing medication for depression, shot at his wife, daughter and son before shooting himself with his licensed revolver at his house in Vikas Nagar area in Lucknow on Monday morning.

His wife and daughter later died at the trauma centre of King George Medical University, while the officer and his son were critical and undergoing treatment.

The incident took place at 8 am, when 55-year-old Surendra Singh, a deputy manager with the PNB's Aliganj branch, shot at his wife Aruna (50) and daughter Niharika (27), who were sleeping in the same bedroom from a pointblank range at their ears, said Additional SP (Trans-Gomti) Ram Bahadur Yadav.

Next, he shot at his 24-year-old son Nishant from a pointblank range before shooting himself in the head, Yadav said.

Nishant, who was conscious, called up his uncle Neeraj Singh, who sought an ambulance. The family was taken to Trauma Centre, where Aruna was declared brought dead. Niharika too succumbed soon. Singh and Nishant are critical.

Yadav said that preliminary investigation had revealed that Singh was undergoing treatment for depression for the last 7 to 8 years and his wife was also suffering from depression. He said prima facie these personal tensions seems to be the trigger for the incident.

Singh's neighbour Mukesh Jain said Singh's family had been living there for more than 20 years and "they were good neighbours". "Singh was suffering from depression as his wife used to have epilepsy fits and his daughter was also not mentally sound. We had a good relationship as he had worked with me at PNB for some time," said a neighbour.

Singh's brother-in-law K Singh said Singh had obtained a gun licence as he was working with a bank and often supervised transfer of cash. Besides his depression, there seems no other reason for his doing such a thing, he added.

... contd.

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