J&K: 6 whose bodies were found 10 days ago committed suicide, say police

Jammu, Aug 27 (IANS) The Jammu and Kashmir police on Saturday said that six persons whose bodies were found 10 days ago, had committed suicide by drug overdose.

Chandan Kohli, SSP (Jammu) told reporters that one of the 6 deceased persons, Noor-ul-Habib had convinced 5 members of a family including an elderly woman, her specially abled daughter, son, another daughter and grandson to commit suicide as both families suffered depression due to pending court cases and medical reasons.

The SSP said two persons, a health worker and a plumber have been arrested for not informing the police on time so that their lives could be saved.

Six dead bodies were recovered from 2 houses by police in semi-decomposed condition on August 17 from Tawi Vihar residential area of Sidhra in Jammu.

Police said Noor-ul-Habib, a resident of Burzalla in Srinagar, had moved to Jammu in 1997.

"He used to financially help his next door neighbour Sakina, who worked as a domestic help at his home. Hailing from Doda district, Sakina was facing several court cases.

"Noor-ul-Habib convinced Sakina, her daughter Rubeena and grandson Sajad Ali to end their lives.

"Police recovered the bodies of four from Habib's house on August 17, while the bodies of Sakina's children, Zaffar Salim and Naseema were found in their house after Habib's sister Shahzada, a resident of Srinagar, informed the police that her brother was not answering the phone.

"The bodies were taken to the GMC hospital where the autopsy was performed by a board of doctors in the presence of a magistrate and the process was videographed.

"The viscera samples were sent for a chemical examination in the Forensic Sciences Laboratory. Final autopsy and FSL reports are still awaited," the SSP said.

Referring to the investigation during which police obtained CCTV footage, call recordings and bank account details, he said Sakina's specially-abled children were the first to die of a drug overdose on August 12, followed by Sakeena on August 14 and the others on August 15.

"They started working on their plan on August 5 by bringing cannulas, drips and medicines from chemist shops and deactivating the CCTV the next day. The services of health worker, Sanjeev Kumar, who was known to Habib, were utilised to fix the cannulas on all of them, while plumber Vijay Kumar was paid Rs 2.5 lakh by Habib to dig a pit in Sakina's house.

"The health worker and the plumber were arrested for not informing police on time and a portion of the money paid to the latter was also recovered.

"Habib, along with Rubeena and Ali, visited the city for buying medicines. They ordered food on August 14 and called the health worker in the evening," SSP added.

An SIT was constituted to expeditiously investigate the case.