Uttarakhand man accused of killing wife, 3 women in family, found dead: Police
Police said the accused had telephoned his mother within hours after committing the crime on Friday saying that he was going to die by suicide
A 40-year-old man accused of killing his wife and three other women from his family was found dead in Uttarakhand’s Pithoragarh district on Monday, three days after the crime, a senior police official said.
According to police, the body was found hanging from a tree around three kilometres away from Burshum village in the Gangolihat sub-division where he lived. Earlier on Monday, police said he had telephoned his mother within hours after committing the crime on Friday saying that he was going to die by suicide.
An intensive manhunt was launched to nab the accused with the use of drones, and sniffer dogs. Sixty regular police personnel, revenue police officials, and a team of the state disaster response force (SDRF) were engaged in the search operation.
Pithoragarh Superintendent of Police (SP) Lokeshwar Singh said, “A joint team of police and SDRF found the body of Santosh Ram, who killed his wife and three other family members on Friday early morning.”
The incident had taken place in Bursham village under Gangolihat block,around 60 km from Pithoragarh district headquarters.
The bodies of three women, who were killed with a sharp edged weapon, were recovered by police on Friday morning, while the body of the accused’s wife, who was strangled to death, was recovered in the evening. It was earlier suspected that the accused had fled away with his wife after killing the three women.
As per the preliminary information, the accused entered into a heated exchange with the family members. In a fit of rage, he took out a sharp edge weapon and brutally murdered his aunt Hemanti Devi (65), cousin sister Maya (20), and cousin brother Prakash’s wife Rama Devi (24). He also strangulated his wife Chandra Devi (37) with a cloth.
According to police, the accused wasn’t mentally stable (not medically) and had aggressive/violent behaviour. “He would enter into a fight with family members frequently after anger outbursts,” the SP said.
The accused hails from a poor background and used to perform ‘cholia’ dance form in marriages.
