CHENNAI: A great deal of planning had gone into the gruesome triple-murders committed by software engineer L Prakash, who then killed himself using the same electric power saw, say police.
Prakash purchased the battery-operated power saw through an online portal on May 19, and took the family for a newly released movie on Wednesday.
He also celebrated his wedding anniversary with his wife, and police recovered the left-over cake to ascertain if he had laced it with sedatives. Prakash wrote a brief suicide note and pasted it on a wall in the living room where he, his wife and two children were found dead with blood splashed all over.
Albin Raj, Sankar Nagar inspector of police, and his team recovered the purchase bills for the power saw, two mobile phones and a laptop belonging to Prakash, from the house. Police have sent them for forensic examination.
Investigators plan to also check Prakash's browsing history to try and piece together what pushed him to do what he did.
Early on Saturday, Ramanan, a 71-year-old priest, came to the house of his daughter P Gayathri in Pozhichalur with ‘laddus’ from Tirumala. He expected his two grandchildren to come running out of the house on Sakthi Vinayagar Koil Street in Venkateshwara Nagar, but he found the door unlatched. He went in and found his 39-year-old daughter, her husband Prakash, 41, and their children Nithya Shree, 13, and Harikrishnan, 8, lying dead, with blood splattered across the floor and the walls.
A shocked Ramanan, who works at a temple in Red Hills, immediately alerted some of his neigbours and police were informed. Soon, following the recovery of a note, it was revealed that Prakash had murdered his wife and children before using the power saw to kill himself.
As the news spread across the densely populated neighbourhood, people were unable to come to terms with the manner of the deaths of the family members.
Deva T, 58, a neighbour, recalled hearing an unusual sound from the housethe previous night. Prakash, who owned a house a few streets away in Venkateshwara Nagar, rented it out for 25,000 a month and stayed on Sakthi Vinayagar Koil Street paying 12,000 a month.
P Inbasekar, an IT employee who lives on the street, said Prakash and his wife often quarrelled. “I’ve known him for the past six years. He had arguments with his wife.”
R Karuppusamy, a 65-year-old construction worker, said he was shattered when he saw the children lying in a pool of blood. “Sometimes, in the evenings, the children used to get me betel nuts.” M Nithyananda, who had ferried Prakash to a temple in his auto a few days ago, said he was numb. Ramanan told police that his daughter had informed him about Prakash borrowing 10 lakh from a money lender to expand her native medicine business.
Police said Gayathri, Nithya Shree Hari Krishnan and Prakash had deep cuts on their necks. Prakash had laid down on the floor with his head and neck on a wooden pedestal. He then left the power saw on his neck. Prakash’s father-in-law turned off the power saw which was still running when he entered.
