On Sunday 28 February, Mumbai woke up to a horrifying news. Hasnain Warekar, a 35-year-old resident of Thane, had sedated 14 members of his family and had gone around slitting their throats. Seven children, including on as young as five-months-old, were among the dead.
While initially it was suspected that property dispute was behind the murders, one survivor, Warekar's sister said that there was no property dispute in the family. The alleged murderer hung himself after killing his family members.
It is now being assumed that Warekar, who had been obsessing about 'jannat' or heaven in the days leading up to the murder, killed his family so that they could accompany him there.
A report on Mumbai Mirror claims, for the past three months, Warekar had been jobless. Neighbours and acquaintances said that he had become increasingly interested and involved in black magic and other such absurd rituals.
A police officer stands outside a morgue as relatives carry the body of one of the victims fatally stabbed by Warekar.
"Hasnain visited Pardesi Baba ka Dargah in Thane's Anand Nagar locality every day, often spending four to five hours there. He forced his 28-year-old wife, Jabin, to cover her face all the time and restricted her movements outside the house. He never consulted a doctor when the couple's daughters — six-year-old Mubtashira and three-month-old Umaira — fell ill, taking them instead to a baba. He would make them eat sand or drink "holy water", claiming it was medicine, a neighbour claimed," Mirror reports.
According to a report on Mid-Day, police has sought the help of psychiatrists to figure out why Warekar may have killed his entire family. Survivor Sobiya Bharmal, whose baby was killed by Warekar, said that when she woke up and tried to escape, her brother had screamed, "Maine sab gharwalo ko khatam kiya hai. Main tumhe bhi nahin chhodunga. (I have killed the entire family, I won't spare you either)."
"The cops have learnt that for the past two years, he would threaten to kill everyone every time he was annoyed by the family members. ‘Tum logo ko dekh ke mera khoon khaulta hai, main tum sab ko ek din maar daaloonga’ was the clinching line he had made to Sobiya on several occasions, confirmed a senior police official," reports Mid-Day.
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