Family says couple fought over raising children with spl needs

New Delhi: 31-year-old Dheeraj Yadav had worked as a banker before moving to work with the Delhi Transport Corporation on a contractual basis, with neighbours around his Rohini home, where he lived with his joint family, saying he was always on his best behaviour and never suspected he could do what he did.

But according to his family, Dheeraj and his wife had frequent fights over their children, both of whom had developmental disabilities, and were worried over their health conditions.

"They were going about their lives normally and never showed any signs of distress to us but they used to frequently fight over their kids, one of whom couldn't speak properly while the other couldn't walk…" their uncle 70-year-old Lal Chand told Millennium Post.

"They were frustrated over handling their children's needs which was getting tougher by the day and that might be the reason they took this step," he added.

The Delhi Police on Thursday said Yadav was found hanging from his home. They added that he had allegedly killed his 28-year-old wife and two sons — aged three and six — before killing himself.

According to police, Dheeraj's elder brother, Neeraj, who lived on the first floor, worked as an OT Assistant in BSA. Their father, Maan Singh, is a retired Army Hawaldar.

Sitting outside his house, their father Maan Singh said that as his son Dheeraj used to leave early morning at 6 AM for work, Singh became suspicious when Dheeraj didn't come out of his room.

According to the family, Dheeraj earned around Rs 18,000 per month from his job at DTC. The family, however, denied Dheeraj facing any financial troubles due to his income.

Meanwhile, relatives said that before conceiving her children, Aarti was preparing for various government entrance exams. "After seeing the condition of her children, she left all hope of pursuing higher education and most of her time was devoted towards looking after them," Chand said.

Neighbours said that they never expected Dheeraj to take such a drastic step given his overall behaviour with people in his locality. "He didn't have any vices and was always at his best behaviour with everyone...was always concerned about his work...I don't know why he chose to kill his family...the reason has to be the condition of his children," Anup (63), a neighbour, said.

A suicide note has been recovered from the spot but the details therein are the subject matter of investigation, DCP (Rohini) Pranav Tayal said.