Doctor Allegedly Murders Wife, 2 Young Children Over Omicron Fears

KEY POINTS

Sushil Singh allegedly murdered his family on Dec. 3
The police are on the lookout for the 55-year-old doctor
He reportedly suffered from depression and was being treatws

A doctor in India has been accused of murdering his wife and two minor children over the fear of the newly emerged COVID-19 variant, Omicron.

The suspect, identified as 55-year-old Sushil Singh, worked as a senior forensic professor at a hospital in Kanpur, a city in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. He has been accused of strangling his wife and bludgeoning to death his two children using a hammer. After murdering his family on Dec. 3, Singh informed his brother about the crime and fled the scene, police said, News 18 reported.

In a WhatsApp text to his brother, Singh said Omicron would kill everyone and he was "fed up of counting dead bodies." By murdering the victims, Singh believed he would be "liberating everyone."

Singh's brother informed the cops about the message he received and they rushed to the apartment to find the bodies of the victims.

"No more counting bodies now. I am consciously destroying myself by killing my family. No one else is responsible," Singh wrote in a diary that the police found near the victim's bodies, as reported by The Times of India. Meanwhile, the police are on the lookout for Singh, whose mobile phone has been switched off.

In addition to the Omicron fears, Singh had also mentioned in his diary that he suffered from a debilitating disease and his life had reached a dead end.

Investigators found out that Singh reportedly suffered from depression and was receiving treatment for the same. He has reportedly tried to kill his wife in the past.

Omicron, a heavily mutated version of the coronavirus has sparked fear and concerns all over the world since the first case of the variant was reported in South Africa on Nov. 24. The new variant has been reported in at least 38 countries since then. India has a total of 21 Omicron cases, according to the latest report by The Times of India.

World Health Organization (WHO) had issued a warning that Omicron could be more infectious than the previously known variants. Meanwhile, the researchers are finding out if the current COVID vaccines provide immunity to the new variant.