Thane man butchers 14 of family members, commits suicide

 In a ghastly crime, a youth is suspected to have butchered 14 members of his family by slitting their throats before committing suicide by hanging himself at Kasarvadavali in Thane district, about 30 km from Mumbai, in the early hours of Sunday.

The accused, 35-year-old Hasnain Warekar, was an educated man with a chartered accountancy background.  “Prima facie, evidence suggests that the accused bolted all the doors and windows of the house and killed his family while they were asleep. Later, he hung himself near a staircase in the bungalow and the knife he used was found near his body,”  Deputy Commissioner of Police V B Chandanshive said, adding that it was a butcher’s knife.

Police sources said this was the biggest ever familicide in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region and possibly in India in the recent times. The victims included Warekar’s wife, two children, his parents, three of his married sisters and their six children. Among the children were two infants aged three and five months.

There were reports that Warekar had sedated family after he laced their food and soft-drinks with sedatives, which is yet to be confirmed. The motive behind the crime is yet to be



ascertained. Thane police were looking at a wide range of possibilities, from property dispute to black magic. The incident is suspected to have taken place between 1 am and 3 am. One of Warekar’s sisters, Subia Bharmal, survived massacre by locking herself in a room. The neighbours rushed there after she screamed for help and broke the grills using crowbars and pulled her out of the window.

 The family members were fast asleep after dinner which included biryani, other food items and juice served at a “dawat” (party) that the accused had hosted. “When people rescued her, they saw a pool of blood at the crime scene,” said Ismail Patel, one of the first to reach there.   “We never thought this could happen to them….I have never seen so many dead bodies,” said Taufique Warekar, another neighbour. 

“We are looking at various aspects. As of now, we can say that we have recovered 15 bodies, including that of the suspected killer. This is one of the most brutal murders that I have ever seen in my life,” DCP Chandanshive said.

Police sources said the survivor might not have been sedated. “We have taken blood samples and viscera samples,” an official said.