Couple Kills Their 2 Minor Children, Commits Suicide Due To Financial Stress

A couple who had reportedly been struggling with financial issues killed their two minor children before hanging themselves in their house Monday.

The bodies of Akhilesh Gupta, 42, his wife Rishu, 39, their son Shivang, 12, and daughter Harshita, 9, were found hanging in their Shahjahanpur house in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, S Anand, the city's police chief, told local daily Deccan Herald.

The bodies were first discovered by a person who went to the family's residence for a welfare check after his call on Gupta's cell phone went unanswered.

Police reportedly recovered a suicide note at the scene. According to Deccan Herald, Gupta wrote in the letter that the couple had been forced to take the extreme step due to their dire financial condition.

The bodies of the couple were recovered from one room while police found the bodies of their young children in another room. Police said it appeared the couple had killed their children first before taking their own lives.

The family, which was originally from Bareilly, a city in Uttar Pradesh had been living in a rented house in Shahjahanpur city for 15 years. Gupta, who was a retailer of medicines, recently exhausted all his savings on the construction of a new house and took a loan from an acquaintance. The lender then started to pressure Gupta to repay the loan amount, causing tension in the household, reported India TV.

The bodies were sent for autopsy and police collected the suicide report for analysis. Cops found no signs of forced entry into the house. There were no signs of an altercation either, which made authorities rule out the chances of foul play in the incident.

"Pieces of same rope were used by all the family members. The bodies were found on the first floor where they lived. They used the ground floor as a storeroom," Anand said as per Hindusthan Times.

Based on Gupta's father's complaint, a case has been filed against the lender for mentally harassing Gupta and his family for money.

In May, a man identified as 38-year-old Hemant Shinde in the western Indian city of Pune strangled his wife to death and killed his toddler son by slitting his throat before committing suicide because he lost his job as a truck driver due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The father of the man said Shinde was upset because he was unable to repay a debt. The couple also had an elder daughter but it remained unclear where she was at the time of the incident.

If you have thoughts of suicide, confidential help is available for free at the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. Call 1-800-273-8255. The line is available 24 hours, every day.