Distraught over severe financial problems, a maid and her five-year-old daughter committed suicide in the upmarket Banjara Hills on Wednesday. Her washerman husband and three-year-old son, who also reportedly consumed poison, are recuperating.
Durga, 25, and her daughter Vanaja were found dead in their house at Noornagar. “Inquiries suggest that Durga and her husband Raju, 30, wanted to end lives. It seems Durga offered food laced with rat poison to her two children the previous night,” the Banjara Hills Inspector P. Murali Krishna said.
Raju returned home late in the night, consumed liquor and later ate the food. Neighbours grew suspicious as none of the family members came out in the morning. They checked only to find two of the dead and the other two in an unconscious state. Raju and son Samuel were shifted to private hospitals. Doctors said the duo was out of danger.
Woman attacked
A gardening contract worker in the ESI hospital’s branch at Erragadda, Laxmi, 35, was attacked by her supervisor, S. Uday, 28, with a pruning shears on the hospital premises on Wednesday, the police said.
Uday had allegedly been pestering the woman, who was married and had three children, to have a relationship with him, the S.R. Nagar police said. While the woman was busy with her work in the morning, he called her to the terrace of the hospital building and picked up an argument with her for ignoring him.
When the woman threatened to lodge a complaint with the higher-ups, Uday attacked her with the shears. She suffered bleeding wounds on her head and fingers. She was admitted to a private hospital where doctors said she was out of danger.
