Driven by poverty, an Indian man allegedly stabbed to death his five children at his home near New Delhi before trying to murder his wife and commit suicide, a news report said Monday. Ravindra Verma, 38, and his wife were found with stab wounds in their house in the Delhi suburb of Ghaziabad on Monday by some neighbours, the IANS news agency reported.
Neighbours were shocked to find the bodies of their five children - three girls and two boys, the youngest a 9-month-old baby boy - on the floor. Police said soon after the incident on Sunday night, Verma tried to stab his wife and later attempted to commit suicide by cutting his veins. The couple were moved to a local hospital where doctors described their condition as "critical."
"It seems to be a case of depression. Ravindra was a truck driver and in his statement he confessed he had no work for the last two months," police officer RK Gautam told the news agency. "He did not want to live any more so he first killed his children, then attempted to kill his wife and finally himself." Despite recording rapid economic progress over the past years, one quarter of India's billion-plus population still lives in poverty.