Out of a job and in debt,former Navy man clubs wife,kid to death

Kumar initially claimed a cupboard had fallen on them but the post-mortem showed suspicious wounds,the police questioned Kumar and he allegedly confessed. Kumar had worked in the Indian Navy as a petty officer and later took up a contractual job in the Merchant Navy. For six months,however,he had had no assignments,the police said.

“Two years ago,Kumar took a loan of Rs 29 lakh to buy their Thane house. The pressure of supporting his family in addition to that of repaying the loan had begun building up. He took take small personal loans from people,who would often land up at his house for repayment,” said Thane police commissioner Anil Dhere.

The police said that between 7.30 and 8 am,Kumar and his wife Sangeeta quarreled over frequent visits by debtors to their Kasarvadavli home. “An enraged Kumar allegedly grabbed an iron rod,used for grinding spices,and clobbered Sangeeta. Tanishka,4,started crying and Kumar hit her too,leaving her unconscious. The elder daughter,Ayushi,16,was sleeping in the other room. After summoning the watchman and neighbours,Kumar woke her up to say her mother and sister were injured and were being rushed to the hospital,” Dhere said. Kumar took Sangeeta to Thane Civil Hospital and Tanishka to Lok Hospital,initially claiming a cupboard had fallen on them.

“Sangeeta was declared dead before admission while Tanishka died in the afternoon. Doctors at the Civil Hospital conducted a post mortem on Sangeeta and after finding suspicious wounds on her,notified the police. We interrogated Kumar and he confessed,” said JCP Vinod Lokhande.