Dubai: A senior Dubai Police official has ruled out any criminal intent behind the collective suicide of an Indian family, saying it was a suicide pact motivated by the husband, who survived the attempt.
In a phone interview with Brigadier Khalil Ebrahim Al Mansouri, Director of the General Department of Criminal Investigation, Dubai Police, the police official learnt that forensic experts have confirmed the suicide attempt of the husband whose rope came loose during the attempted suicide.
The husband claimed to the police that following the failed attempt he panicked and immediately reported the matter to them.
By that time, the son of his wife from a previous marriage (who hanged himself from the same fan as the husband) had died and the wife and her sister who hanged themselves from another fan had also died.
Confessed
"The matter has been referred to the public prosecution for further investigation. The husband confessed to us that he is the one who initiated the suicide and his family joined the suicide pact. Forensic examinations confirm that it is a suicide and ruled out criminal intent," the police official told Gulf News.
The incident, which took place in a flat in Al Karama on Wednesday evening, has sparked a wave of panic and concern among local residents. The woman, 38, her 22-year-old son from a previous marriage and her 20-year-old sister died after they apparently hanged themselves from fans in their second-floor flat, Gulf News previously reported.
Police have cordoned off the flat, located above the Families Supermarket, and the 40-year-old husband was treated for minor injuries and is being detained.
The family's textile shop, which is owned by the husband and located in the same building, remains closed with its employees lingering outside.
A Dubai Police source said a letter was left behind by the family citing financial difficulties as the motive behind the suicides.
An employee of the family's textile shop said: "We did not have any idea of our boss having a huge debt. We got our salaries on time. There are four of us who work here — one Pakistani and three Indians. Other than the boss, the ladies also used to man the cash counter and supervise the shop. On Wednesday, the woman's sister was at the cash counter until noon. After lunch, no one from the family came to the shop ... we have no idea what will happen to our jobs."
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