Amaravati, March 30 – A doctor and his wife died by suicide after injecting a toxic substance to kill their three-year-old daughter, who had mental and physical disabilities.
K. Gopi, an anesthetist, was working at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Bhopal, and his wife Shankara Kumari (30) was working as a nurse at the same hospital.
On Sunday, K. Gopi and his wife Shankara Kumari attempted suicide by injecting themselves and their daughter, Mounika, with a toxic substance at a lodge in Narsaraopet, in the Palnadu district of Andhra Pradesh.
While Shankara Kumari and Mounika died on Sunday, Dr. Gopi succumbed to his injuries at a private hospital in Narsaraopet on Monday.
Preliminary investigation by the police revealed that the couple took this extreme step due to their depression over the condition of their daughter.
Gopi, who is from the Satluru village in Palnadu district, and Shankara Kumari, who is from Dharmavaram in the Sri Sathya Sai district, were in a love marriage. They were depressed after the birth of Mounika, who had mental and physical disabilities.
Shankara Kumari and her daughter had come to visit her parents in their hometown 20 days ago. Gopi had also arrived from Bhopal two days before. He called his wife and daughter to Narsaraopet on Saturday, and they checked into the Dinesh Grand lodge.
Gopi sent a message and some photographs to his sister on WhatsApp on Sunday morning, informing her that they were ending their lives. She alerted other family members, who rushed to the lodge and found the three of them unconscious. They were taken to a hospital, where Shankara Kumari and Mounika died while undergoing treatment.
Gopi, whose condition was critical, succumbed early on Monday morning.
The police recovered some sedatives, syringes, and other materials from the lodge.
The bodies of the couple and their daughter were handed over to the family after a postmortem examination on Monday.
The Narsaraopet police have registered a case and are continuing the investigation.