Hyderabad: A 41-year-old mother, who suspected her husband of sexually harassing their seven-year-old daughter, allegedly killed both her daughters on Wednesday evening.
Rajani Chutke, an MBA resident of Tukaram Gate area, slit the throats of her two daughters, Ashwika and Thaviska, with a broken bottle, said the police.
After the act, she went to Hussainsagar, cleansed herself and surrendered before the police. She said that her elder daughter was scared of her husband and suspecting that he was harassing her, she had killed them.
Vinay Chutke, 45, and Rajani Chutke, 41, are residents of Teachers’ Colony in Tukaram Gate area. Mr Chutke owns a gift article store at Begumpet while Rajani is a housewife. Mr Chutke’s mother Mrs Usha Chutke, 75, and sister Ms Anitha, 58, live with them.
On Wednesday evening, Chutke, Rajani and their daughters went to a nearby temple after which he dropped them home before going back to work. Ms Usha and Ms Anitha had an early supper and slept in the front room.
Killer mom was depressed
The couple got married nearly nine years ago but never had any problems. Though Rajani said that her husband Vinay Chutke harassed her elder daughter Ashwika sexually, she admitted that she never shared her fears with any of the family members.
Vinay’s mother who stays with the family alleged that Rajani was depressed and had been behaving abnormally since some days.
Vinay Chutke, a native of Hyderabad, and Rajani, from Bengaluru got married nearly 10 years ago. The couple had two daughters, Ashwika, studying in LKG at St Ann’s High School in Secunderabad and Thaviska, studying at a play school. The couple stayed with Vinay’s mother and elder sister.
Rajani, after killing her daughters, admitted before police that since five to six months, Ashwika had developed a fear towards her father Vinay. When she sees her father coming out of the room or from work she would rush to her mother and hold her as if she was scared of him.
Rajani, who observed this change in her daughter, grew suspicious about her husband, thinking that he was harassing her.
No proof of sexual harassment: Police
At around 10 pm, when Mr Chutke returned from work, he found the doors open. His mother and sister were still sleeping and searching for his wife and daughters, he went into the bedroom. He saw blood on the bed and floor and when he followed them into the bathroom, he found Thaviska dead, lying in a pool of blood. He then found Ashwika’s body in a small gap between the bed and the cupboard. His wife was missing.
Alerted by neighbours, police arrived at the spot and sent teams to trace Rajani. But at around 2 am Rajani returned home and surrendered to the police. She told the cops that she suspected that her husband was sexually harassing Ashwika and to free both daughters from him, she had killed them. Mr Chutke, however, denied the allegations and told the police that his wife might have killed the girls because she had seen that the child was scared of him. “There is no evidence supporting her allegations. But we are questioning Vinay,” said inspector T. Laxminarayana.
Cops said Rajani first wrapped a sleeping Thaviska in a bed sheet and took her to the bathroom and slit her throat with a broken bottle. “Later she took Ashwika, who was playing on the computer in the front room and killed her in the same manner,” the inspector added.
After killing her daughters, Rajani went to Hussainsagar and texted Vinay’s friend and a neighbour that she suspected Vinay of harassing Ashwika and had killed both girls. Later, she cleaned herself in the lake (shuddhi) and walked 8 km home. Based on Mr Chutke’s complaint, a murder case was registered and Rajani has been sent to judicial remand.
