Chennai: A 35-year-old woman, wife of a software professional, killed her two children, a two-and-half-year-old boy and a five-month-old daughter and later committed suicide by hanging herself at an apartment near suburban Pallikaranai on Monday.
The incident came to light late on Monday night after the woman’s family asked a relative to check on her as she had not picked up their phone calls throughout the day.
While it is suspected that the woman, Jihana Shah killed her children and committed suicide, police said that a clear picture would be available only after her software engineer husband, Sirik Shah (39) is traced. Preliminary investigations revealed that the couple had a quarrel and the husband left home about a week ago after which the woman was depressed and constantly in touch with her parents over phone.
The couple hail from Gujarat. Sirik works as a software professional at a firm on Rajiv Gandhi Salai and the family stays in an apartment complex in Nookampalayam here. The couple had a two and half year old Son Pari and a five month old daughter.
Police investigations revealed that the family visited Gujarat during the Pongal holidays. While the nature of the quarrel is not clear yet, the man is said to have left the house and not reported to work either, after a spat last Wednesday.
Jihana’s efforts to reach her husband over phone were futile after which she complained to her mother. Meanwhile, on Monday repeated calls to her phone went unanswered after which her mother asked a relative to check on her. At around 10 pm, a relative knocked on the doors and after there was no response, police were alerted. Pallikaranai police broke open the door to find the woman hanging from the ceiling. The children were found dead on a bed. Police said that she had smothered the babies with a pillow before committing suicide.
Pallikaranai police secured the bodies and moved them to the Chromepet government hospital for autopsy. Meanwhile, on Tuesday, the woman’s mother, Neetha, reached the city. She reportedly told the police personnel that her daughter was in an unhappy marriage and spoke often of committing suicide.
Police also recovered a suicide note from the apartment, written in Gujarati, in which the woman mentioned that no one was responsible for her death.
Pallikaranai police have registered a case and launched a hunt for the software engineer who is at large.
