Constable battles for life after poisoning wife & kids to death

Bengaluru, May 24: A policeman working in the chief minister’s home office reportedly killed his wife and two children before attempting suicide in the police quarters at Hegde Nagar, northeast Bengaluru, in the early hours of Tuesday.

S Subhash Chandra, 32, a City Armed Reserve (CAR) head constable, force-fed his three-year-old daughter Manya, one-year-old son Pruthvi and wife Veena (28) with ammonium sulphate tablets (rat poison). Once he was certain that they were dead, he consumed the same poison, police said. Chandra was a receptionist/telephone operator in the chief minister’s home office ‘Krishna’ located on Kumara Krupa Road.

Around 7.30 am, Chandra’s brother, Kotresh, arrived from Hubballi to see him. He knocked on the door and called several times on Chandra’s mobile phone but there was no response. Though the door was bolted from inside, Kotresh managed to peep through a window and was stunned to see the four-member family lying motionless inside. He called neighbours for help. Police were also called.

Policemen rushed to the house and found that the bodies of Veena and the children had turned cold. They took all of them to Baptist Hospital. Doctors declared Veena and the children dead. Chandra, however, had signs of life and was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Doctors washed his stomach and have kept him under round-the-clock observation. His condition remains critical. The bodies of his wife and children have been taken to BR Ambedkar Medical College and Hospital for post-mortem. Ammonium sulphate tablets are easily available at pharmacies and fertiliser stores.

What drove Chandra to the extreme step remains a mystery. The jurisdictional Sampigehalli police have booked him for three counts of murder and are waiting for his recovery to proceed with the case. “It’s unclear why he took this extreme step. It looks like a personal issue,” P S Harsha, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Northeast), said.

Chandra is a native of Sakkerehalli, Ballari. He got married in 2011 and was living with his family on the ground floor of Vedavathi Block of the police quarters. He joined the police force as a constable in 2008 and was promoted to head constable in January 2017.

Inquiries with Kotresh and a few neighbours have led the police to surmise that Chandra had financial problems. He is a jovial person but he didn’t share his problems with any of his friends. Neighbours said they last saw the couple around 7 pm on Monday. Relatives are in a state of shock as they knew nothing about Chandra’s problems.