Man kills 14 family members, ends life

Victims include seven children, his wife, parents and three sisters, one of whom survived the attack

Mumbai : A 35-year-old man allegedly killed 14 members of his family, including his parents, wife and two daughters, at their house in Thane near Mumbai before killing himself early on Sunday.

Among those killed are seven children, aged three months to 16 years, and six women. The accused, identified as Hasnil Warekar of Kasarwadi, allegedly slit their throats with a knife. Police have sent samples of food consumed by them for tests to find out if they were sedated before being killed.

The man, an income tax consultant, was found hanging in his room with a knife in his hand. Thane is located 30km from Mumbai. One sister, Subia Bharmar, survived the attempted murder and is undergoing treatment at a private hospital.

Joint Commissioner of Police Ashutosh Dumbare said, “Prima facie evidence suggests that the accused bolted all the doors of the house and murdered his family while they were asleep with the knife that we found near his body.” The police has recorded the sole survivor’s statement, but they are investigating the case to find the exact cause behind the murders, he added.

The family had come together for a party. According to Dumbare, the incident took place around 2.30 am. The police were alerted after Warekar's in-laws, who live in the neighbouring house, heard Bharmar's screams and broke in. “The family appears to be well known in the area. Initial inquiry does not suggest any trouble within the family to coerce Hansil to take this extreme step,” a senior Thane Police officer said.

“We still haven’t been able to speak with the attacker’s 21-year-old sister, the lone survivor of the attack, who is in deep trauma at a city hospital,” the police said. A property dispute was behind the killings, but the police said initial investigations have so far found no trigger for such an “extreme step”.

“In our inquiry so far, no one has yet been able to give the reason for this,” the police said. “He worked with a private company in Mumbai. There were no known financial troubles or disputes and now we are hoping that the lone survivor can tell us something about the trigger,” they said.