Man kills wife, 8 children, 3 sisters and parents near Mumbai; commits suicide

A 35-year-old chartered accountant allegedly stabbed and killed 13 members of his family and then committed suicide by hanging himself, around 30km from India's financial capital Mumbai. The incident occurred on 28 February.

Hansil Warekar stabbed eight children, his wife, three sisters and parents at his bungalow at Ghodbadar road in Thane district at 2am IST (8.30pm GMTon 27 February). Local police said there was a party organised at his residence on Saturday (27 February) after which all the family members had gone to sleep, when the accused may have attacked them.

"Prima facie evidence suggests that the accused bolted all the doors of the house and murdered his family while they were asleep with a knife that we found near his body. The accused then hanged himself after killing his family. There were three rooms in the house. While he was in a room with his wife and two daughters on the first floor, his parents and sisters were in separate rooms on the ground floor," said joint commissioner of Thane Police Ashutosh Dumbare.

Police learnt of the incident when one of the victims raised an alarm and Hansil's in-laws who were in a house nearby called them. "Hansil slit the upper part of this victim's throat. She survived the attack and screamed for help. The survivor's in-laws, who were in the neighbouring house heard her cries and tried opening the door, but it was locked. The in-laws broke open the grill of a window on the ground floor and entered the house. It was then that the police were alerted about the incident," the joint commissioner added.

Now, police are waiting for Hansil's sister Subia Bharmar, the lone survivor of the attack, who has been admitted to a hospital, to reveal the reason behind the incident. "We have recorded the survivor's statement. However, the exact cause that triggered her brother to kill her family and himself is still unclear. Our investigation is still underway," Dumbare said.

The murder weapon, a knife, was found near Hansil's body.