BANGALORE, April 28, 2013
The two were staying in a resort in Bannerghatta National Park
An IT professional committed suicide after allegedly killing his eight-year-old daughter at a resort in the Bannerghatta National Park on Friday night.
Aravind Ramaswamy Reddy (35), who was working in Singapore, and his daughter, Lakshya, a Class 4 student in a city school, checked into Jungle Lodges and Resorts’ Nature Camp in the national park on Friday morning and they went on a safari in the afternoon, the police said.
They said the resort staff had served them dinner on Friday. However, when the staff came to serve them the breakfast on Saturday, they found the bodies of the father and the daughter in the room.
Pills found
The Bannerghatta police, who found packets of sleeping pills in the room, suspect that Lakshya was made to consume food laced with the pills or poison. Aravind had strangled himself with a plastic zip tie.
Though the police are yet to ascertain the exact reason for their death, they said, quoting relatives, that Aravind had not come to terms with his wife’s death about four years ago. His wife, Sindhur, had died of renal failure. The couple had studied engineering together in a city college and had later got married.
In a suicide note, Aravind said he did not hold anyone responsible for his death, and requested that he and his daughter be cremated at the same place where his wife was cremated, according to the police. He also wanted some of their belongings to be burnt.
Lakshya was living with her uncle Kishore in J.P. Nagar VII Phase. Aravind, who was working in Singapore, used to visit her frequently. He had gone on a vacation with his relatives to Andaman and Nicobar Islands four days ago. After returning from there, Aravind took his daughter to Bannerghatta on Friday, the police said.
