Meltdown claims 4 lives in Ludhiana

Facing losses in his business, Karnail Singh (47), a resident of Shimlapuri area, and his wife, 35-year-old wife Sarabjeet, hung themselves in their house after they gave poisoned milk to their 16-year-old-daughter Vipanjeet Kaur and son Prabhjot Singh (12) on Wednesday night.

Karnail Singh was into manufacturing of bolts and other truck components and was also the secretary of the Small-Scale Industries’ Association. He was reportedly tense due to the falling prices of iron. It is also learnt that he had shifted his factory premises to a new place recently and work had not yet started at the new place.

The bodies were discovered today morning by the milkman, who informed the police.

“Prima facie, it seems to be a case of suicide by the couple after poisoning the children. As no suicide note has been found from the spot, we will get post-mortem of the bodies done and investigate the matter. I would say the family was quite well off and despite the business losses, it is difficult to believe that he took such an extreme step because of the crisis,” said SP (City II) G.S. Randhawa.

Karnail’s sister Sarabjeet Kaur admitted that of late Karnail Singh had been upset as he was facing a lot of problem in business. “But he had no enmity with anyone and was a very warm and jovial person,” she told The Indian Express.

In a state of shock, she said, “It is very difficult for me to believe that he committed suicide with his entire family. He was at our house just last night, motivating my children to study hard and secure good marks in examinations. He had even promised to reward them.”

Karnail’s older brother Tarlok Singh added, “I am shocked at all this as he never told me about any crisis that he was facing and it is difficult for me to believe that he is no more. He was disturbed because of his business, but it was not to such an extent that he would have committed suicide.

Charanjeet Singh Vishavkarma, president of United Cycle and Parts Manufacturers’ Association said, “The nut-bolt component is almost at par with the cycle component in the city and off late our business has been cut down almost by half. While we were working three shifts a couple of months back, now we work just for eight hours and sometimes even these are idle.”

He added, “There are no buyers and no new orders, while the banks are asking for their money back. If the government does not intervene and help us stabilise the prices of raw materials, more such episodes will be heard of in the future.”