India: Man Killed 5 Members Of Family After Argument Over Food

A man killed five members of his family including his three minor daughters, in Dehradun Monday morning following an argument with his wife over preparing breakfast, said the police. The man identified as Mahesh Tiwari, 47, locked himself inside the house following the incident in the Ranipokhri police station

area and was later arrested by the police. The police have also recovered a kitchen knife used in the killings. The police said the deceased have been identified as his mother Beetan Devi, 75, wife Neetu Devi, 36, and daughters Aparna, 13, Swarna, 11, who is differently abled, and Annapurna, 9. Senior police officials said

Tiwari is unemployed and his elder brother Umesh, who works in Spain, sends money every month for his family’s expenses. The house in the Nagagher area where Mahesh and his family were living also belongs to Umesh. In 2012, Mahesh shifted here after his father Dinesh Kumar’s death. “Mahesh is a very religious person and

used to be involved in that most of the time. This was causing tension between him and his wife, who wanted Mahesh to get a job and bring in some money. Today around 7 am, he was busy in pooja and after that, he had to leave his daughters at school. However, an argument started between him and his wife who asked

him to leave the pooja and help her in making breakfast,” said Dehradun Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Dilip Singh Kunwar. Kanwar said they also argued about the empty LPG cylinder and when Tiwari tried to replace it with another cylinder, that too turned out to be empty. “This further intensified their

argument and Tiwari took a kitchen knife to slit his wife’s throat. He then killed his middle daughter, and the other two daughters. He also killed his mother who was reported to have some psychological disorder,” he added. After killing his family members, Mahesh Tiwari locked himself inside the house. “A neighbour,

however, heard the calls for help and peeked inside the house to find pools of blood. He soon informed the police and a team broke into the house. The man was arrested and has confessed to the crime. The kitchen knife used in the killing is also recovered,” said the official. The bodies have been sent for post-mortem, according to the police. They said Mahesh Tiwari got married around 15 years ago and hails from the Banda district in Uttar Pradesh.