Suicide horror: From Hisar to Dehradun to a rented accommodation in Panchkula — Mittal changed businesses, locations, but faced only losses

Praveen, who was semi-conscious, was the last one who died in the hospital, while the remaining six had died in the car itself, according to the police.

From scrap-material processing business, to a tours and travels business, to running a taxi, Praveen tried his luck on multiple businesses, all of which failed and generated crores of rupees of debt.

The Mittal family, according to his relatives, hails from Barwala in Hisar district of Haryana. It was in mid-2000 when the 41-year-old shifted with his parents to Panchkula and got married to Reena.

His cousins, Ankit Mittal and Sandeep Aggarwal, told The Indian Express that it was in 2008 when Praveen first incurred heavy losses in a scrap-material processing factory in Baddi. According to his cousins, he struggled to break even, but could not.

“The bank seized his factory and other properties that he possessed to recover their loan amount that was approximately around Rs 12-15 crore. For about 7-8 years, he (Praveen) did not keep in touch with any of us his relatives. It was in 2014 that we learnt that he had moved to Dehradun. It was during that time, he started getting back in touch with us,” Ankit said.

Talking about how Praveen re-established contact with his relatives, Mittal added that he met him on a few occasions. “Together, we also attended a few family functions. He also came to this side and I also visited him in Dehradun a couple of times. But, a few years ago, he again suffered losses in a tours and travels business that he was running,” the relative added.

About the suicide note purportedly written by Praveen in which he mentioned that his father-in-law (Rakesh Gupta) should not be harassed, Aggarwal said that he was not in “good terms” with Gupta.

“A few months ago, however, when he shifted here with his family. Praveen did stay with his father-in-law. They (Praveen’s family) stayed on the first floor of the house while his father-in-law stayed on the ground floor. But, from there too, he (Praveen) shifted soon. I last spoke with Praveen about five days ago. It was then, he told me that he was fine and the family had shifted to a rented accommodation in Saketri near Mansa Devi complex. He told me that he had taken the accommodation on rent,” Aggarwal added.

Manish Chaudhary, Praveen’s landlord told The Indian Express that it was barely a month ago when the former shifted in his house at Saketri at a rent of Rs 8,000. “It has not even been one full month since they shifted at my house, here in Saketri. Yesterday (Monday), Praveen called me at about 9 am and informed me that he and entire family were going out of station because his children’s summer vacation had begun and this morning, I received this shocking news,” Chaudhary added.

Talking about the Mittal family’s behaviour, Chaudhary said that they lived like a
“normal family”. “They used to come out for morning walks. Children were very good and well behaved. It is quite unfortunate what has happened.”

Before coming to Saketri, Praveen and his family used to stay in Dehradun’s Kaulagarh. The Hyundai car, in which Mittal family was found Monday night, was found to be registered in the name of a Dehradun resident Gambhir Singh Negi. Police reached out to him and he told them that he had met Praveen in connection with a NGO – Child Life Care Mission. They became friends and the car was financed in Gambhir’s name, but was being used by Praveen.

ACP (Panchkula) Vikram Nehra told The Indian Express that the children were studying in a government school at Sector 28. Praveen’s brother Jitender Mittal lives in Rajiv colony, Panchkula and owns a business of readymade garments.

About the recoveries from the car, ACP Nehra said that “a lot of medicines were found from the car. “A powder form of sodium nitrate was also recovered. The postmortem of the bodies was conducted today (Monday). The relatives shall be performing their last rites. We shall be sending the viscera for chemical examination to analyse the exact cause of death,” Nehra added.