Silvester D'Souza

Daijiworld Media Network - Kundapur (SP)

Kundapur, Nov 27: In a shocking incident reported from Setwalli in Belve village of Hebri taluk, a man killed his wife and children before committing suicide. The incident happened on Wednesday November 27.

The victims of this mindless massacre were Sooryanarayan Bhat (50), his wife, Manasi (40), and children, Sudhindra (14) and Sudhish (8).

Sooryanarayana, it is gathered, attacked his wife and children when they were deep asleep. He hit them with a sharp weapon after poisoning them till they dropped dead. After the mother and her children breathed their last, he hanged himself.

Bhat was an agriculturist who also worked as a cook whenever he had time. He had agreed to join a team of cooks for a function on Wednesday evening. The other cooks who saw that Sooryanarayan Bhat had not come to the venue, had called him on his mobile phone but found that it was switched off. They then tried to contact his wife on phone but her phone was too inaccessible. Then they called his elder brother, who went to Bhat's home personally and came to know what had happened.

It is said that Sooryanarayana Bhat was grappling with mental issues and was short tempered since his childhood. He used to visit a nearby shop every morning where he read newspaper for about 30 minutes. Since a week, he had skipped this visit, it is said. This has given rise to suspicion that he would have been preparing for the onslaught on his family members in advance.

The murder appears to have taken place during the wee hours on Wednesday. It is suspected that after feeding poison to wife and kids, Bhat would have stabbed them with a sharp weapon. The heads of the deceased bear wound marks appearing to have been created by sharp weapon. Bhat locked himself inside the house before hanging himself.

The family was financially sound. Sudhindra was an eighth standard student of SRS School Hebri while Sudhish was a fourth standard student of this school. One of Bhat's brothers has settled down at Bengaluru while the other is an agriculturist in the same village. His sister works as a teacher.

District superintendent of police Nisha James, visited the spot and guided investigation. After personnel of the forensic science centre at Manipal visited the spot and canine squad and finger print experts took stock of the situation and undertook investigation, the bodies were shifted to Manipal hospital at around midnight for post-mortem.

A case in this connection stands registered in Shankarnarayana police station. Investigation is on.