Dubai: A five-year-old girl and her father are dead and her mother is hospitalised in critical condition in an apparent family suicide attempt on Saturday, Gulf News has learnt.
Dubai Police confirmed the gruesome incident. The Indian family of three — Rijesh, 32, his wife Sreesha, 30, and daughter Avanti — was living in a building behind the Al Musalla Tower in Bur Dubai. The incident took place in their one-bedroom apartment yesterday morning. The middle-income family is from Kannur district in the south Indian state of Kerala.
"The girl, 5, was found dead and the father's body was found hanging from a fan in the ceiling, while the mother was found with her wrist slashed," Brigadier Khalil Ebrahim Al Mansouri, Director-General of the Criminal Investigation Department at Dubai Police, said.
Screams heard
The cause of the deaths of the girl and her father are yet to be determined, however, preliminary investigation suggests suicide, officials said.
A case has been registered at the Al Rifa'a Police station. "So far no criminal intentions have been established. Forensic investigations will be conducted to determine the cause of deaths," Brig Al Mansouri said.
According to sources, police were informed after the family did not respond to repeated calls by relatives on their phones, and the neighbours grew suspicious when the family did not respond to the doorbell. The mother was taken to Rashid Hospital around 3pm, a source told Gulf News.
"She was brought to the hospital with wounds on her neck and wrist. The wounds were stitched," said the source. The incident has sent shockwaves across the community as residents are baffled by what could have pushed the young family to take such extreme measures. "We are shocked. We have no idea what could have led to this," said a neighbour.
Suicide note
A suicide note was found and screams were heard from the apartment yesterday morning, according to neighbours. But this could not be immediately confirmed from the police. When there was no response after ringing the doorbell, police were called in, neighbours said.
It is understood that Rijesh was working with a consultancy firm and recently moved to an electronics company and his wife Sreesha was working with a private company. The daughter was attending kindergarten at an Indian school.
A grocery worker in the locality, who knew the family, said they were from Chakkarakkal in Kannur. "It was around 11am when everyone realised that there was something wrong," said the grocery worker, who said he had known the family for about five years, since moving into the apartment.
Police forced entry into the apartment and found the man hanging. They immediately cordoned the area, he added.
