The car was found by a passerby, who reportedly spoke with the last member of the family moments before his death. The police identified the victims as a 41-year-old man, his wife, their three minor children and his parents. The car is registered under Dehradun city, and was found parked along roadside in a residential area of Panchkula
-1748348199155_d.png "Six members of family found dead in car in Haryana; another dies on way to hospital; cops suspect suicide")
The police are going through the family's social media accounts and their bank transactions to get more leads in the case. Representational pic
Six members of a family, including three children, were found dead inside a car in the Panchkula area of Haryana. According to police, one died on his way to the hospital on Tuesday. The police suspect it to be a case of suicide.
The car was found by a passerby, who reportedly spoke with the last family member just moments before his death.
The police identified the victims as a 41-year -old man, his wife, their three minor children and his parents. The car is registered under Dehradun city, and was found parked along roadside in a residential area of Panchkula's Sector 27.
Talking to the reporters, Puneet Rana, a local, said that he along with one more person were out on a walk around 10 pm when they spotted the car with a towel hanging out from one of its doors. He further added that after unlocking one of the doors of the car, the man inside told him that they were looking for a hotel room while returning from a Bageshwar Dham event in Panchkula but could not find it and so they were sleeping in the car.
Rana found something amiss and pointed a torch through the car windows to discover six people sitting motionless, reported PTI.
As the person speaking to him was facing difficulty in breathing, Rana helped him get out of the car and gave him water and asked if he killed the others who were in the vehicle.
"He then told me that all his family members had committed suicide and he too was going to die in five minutes. And then he collapsed," Rana said.
"Before collapsing, he said he owed a lot of money to the banks. He said their relatives were rich, but they were not helping," he added.
The reported incident was flocked with a crowd who informed the police, the ambulance took around 40 minutes to arrive.
Himadree Kaushik, Deputy Commissioner of Panchkula said, “Prima facie, it appears to be a matter of suicide. However, further investigations are on."
She also said that six people were taken to a private hospital and one was taken to civil hospital. All seven were reported dead, she added.
DCP (Crime), Panchkula, Haryana, Amit Dahiya said. "At the moment, we are investigating the case from all angles. We are questioning the people in the area and going through the CCTV footage."
Police are also going through the family's social media accounts and their bank transactions, he told PTI.
The man's father-in-law told reporters in Panchkula that he came to know about the incident when police reached his house in Pinjore at 4 am. He said he had not been in contact with the family for sometime, though earlier he used to help them with money.
When asked about where the family could have been last night, he said, "I am told that they had gone for a Bageshwar Dham event in Panchkula."
The family had been living in Panchkula's Sakreti area, he said.
The man's cousin, who lives in Ludhiana, told PTI that the victim had not been doing well financially, and would refuse help whenever he would offer it.
At the time of his death, the man was driving a taxi to make ends meet, said the cousin.
He further stated that the police told him that his cousin had left a note behind for him. "The note says I should be informed and be asked to conduct the last rites and that no action should be taken against his father-in-law," said the man's cousin.
He said that at one point the man owed around Rs 15- 20 crore and banks had seized whatever they could to settle the debt.
The cousin also said that the man moved to Dehradun ten years ago without informing anyone.
“Six years ago, we got a phone call that they were living there,” he said.
"A year ago they came to Kharar in Punjab but he found it difficult to pay the rent and then moved to Pinjore to stay at his father-in-law's house for sometime. But they could not get along and then they moved to Saketri," he said.
The cousin concluded by saying that he was shocked when he received the call about the deaths, initially he thought that someone was pranking him.
DCP Dahiya informed that a team of five police officers have been formed to conduct further investigation in Dehradun and Pinjore.
(With inputs from PTI)
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