- 1 hour ago
In Bengaluru, a 40-year-old man, SG Imran, allegedly strangled his two daughters, aged 5 and 10, inside a hotel room before attempting suicide by slitting his throat. Police recovered a note citing a marital dispute and suspicions of an extramarital affair.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Good evening. We are starting the show with a piece of breaking news which is coming in now.
00:05The Indian High Commission to Bangladesh, Dinesh Privedi, met Prime Minister Narendra Modi sometime back.
00:12This meeting is happening after his meeting with the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Tariq Rehman, yesterday.
00:20Two high-level meetings with two Prime Ministers, back-to-back, what has been communicated becomes important.
00:27Remember, Bangladesh had raised demand for Sheikh Hasina's extradition in meeting between Prime Minister Tariq Rehman and High Commissioner Dinesh
00:35Trivedi.
00:36And at the same time, the request to India to return the killers involved in the murder of Shaheed Osman
00:42Hadi to Bangladesh was reiterated.
00:45The Minister of External Affairs so far has said that they are looking into case of Hasina's extradition as per
00:51established processes.
00:53So, an important meeting which has happened between Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh, Dinesh Trivedi with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
01:01Those are the pictures which are coming in. Let me go straight to Geeta Mohan.
01:06First, let's listen in to the soundbite and then I'll bring in Geeta.
01:10On the other two issues that you raised about extradition of former Prime Minister as also the case of Hadi.
01:18On Hadi, I told you that this is a legal matter in which investigations are ongoing presently.
01:24As far as the extradition matter is concerned, as I said before, that our position has been very clear on
01:29this particular matter,
01:31that we are looking into the case as per established processes that we have on our side.
01:39Geeta Mohan, Group Editor of Foreign Affairs, is joining us live.
01:43Geeta, how should the meeting between Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh and Prime Minister Narendra Modi be looked at?
01:51Well, it certainly is a consultation visit for which Dinesh Trivedi is here,
01:56ahead of the very important BRICS summit that India would be hosting mid-September.
02:02And he's here also to apprise the Prime Minister of his meetings and his, so far, the experience in Dhaka.
02:12The fact that he's engaged and met the top leadership of Bangladesh is important.
02:17Inviting him for the outreach session during the BRICS summit.
02:21But also, more importantly, the fact that there needs to be some mending of ties between the two countries at
02:27a time when Sheikh Hasina still is being hosted by India
02:31and has announced her return to Bangladesh.
02:34So, important conversations on how the two countries can take forward the relationship at a time when we've seen dipping
02:42of ties between the two countries, Maria.
02:44Alright, Geeta Mohan, I appreciate your time. Thank you for joining us.
02:48Shifting focus to our focus on NewsTrack tonight.
02:52They say children are a blessing.
02:55You bring them into this world because you want them to be a part of your life,
03:00to watch them grow, to protect them, to give them love, security and a sense of family.
03:05But marriages don't always remain happy.
03:08There are disagreements, there are cracks.
03:10There are moments when trust begins to break down.
03:13And in some marriages, suspicion takes over.
03:17The Bengaluru tragedy forces us to confront what can happen when marital conflict turns bitter.
03:24And when suspicion and resentment spiral into unimaginable violence.
03:29Here's a father who has allegedly killed his two little daughters,
03:33just five and ten years old, inside a five-star hotel in Bengaluru.
03:41He strangulated these young girls with his own bare hands.
03:45Can you imagine?
03:46Police say the killings followed a marital dispute with the father allegedly suspecting his wife of having an extramarital affair.
03:53The allegation was his, the suspicion was his.
03:56And maybe the affair was hers.
03:59But the children, they had nothing to do with it.
04:02They were simply caught in a conflict.
04:05They neither created nor understood.
04:08And that is perhaps the most disturbing part of this tragedy.
04:11Children becoming a collateral.
04:13So, how does a parent who once held a child, protected a child, planned a future for that child,
04:22reach a point where that same child becomes a victim of their anger, suspicion or despair?
04:30When trust breaks down between two adults, how does that conflict begin to consume the entire family?
04:37When does anger cross the line into violence?
04:40And most disturbingly, what drives a parent to kill their own children?
04:46The questions are many and the answers may be conflicting, but none could ever justify the killing.
04:53Not now, not ever.
04:55Before I bring in the guests, here's a report.
05:02A father, two little girls, a luxury hotel room, a note, an alleged affair.
05:12And a tragedy that has left the nation stunned.
05:16What allegedly began as a bitter family dispute, ended in unimaginable horror.
05:23With two young sisters reportedly killed by their own father.
05:30A 40-year-old man strangled his own daughters, aged 5 and 10, inside a room near the city airport.
05:39The accused, identified as S. Jim Rahn, allegedly carried out the killings following a bitter marital dispute.
05:49The reported sequence of events inside the Bengaluru hotel points to a chilling timeline.
05:54On August 9, accused Imran checked into the hotel with his two daughters and told staff that a guest was
06:02expected after midnight.
06:04The following day, that is on August 10, when he failed to check out, hotel staff knocked on the door
06:10but received no response.
06:12After a second attempt at around 4.30 pm, also went unanswered, the manager opened the room with a duplicate
06:20key around 5 pm.
06:22Inside, the two children were found dead on the bed, while Imran was found lying in the washroom with his
06:29throat slit.
06:31Police also recovered a note in which he claimed to suspect his wife of an extramarital affair, alleging he had
06:39evidence to prove it.
06:41After the killings, Imran reportedly tried to end his own life by slitting his throat.
06:47Imran is currently undergoing treatment and is said to be out of danger.
06:51DCP of Bengaluru's north-east has confirmed the sequence of events, calling it a case rooted in domestic discord that
06:59escalated into unthinkable violence.
07:01We have recorded a note also which says that he and his wife had some marital dispute and a preliminary
07:11investigation says that that was one of the motives.
07:15We are still investigating the case and we have to find out if there are any angles remaining in this
07:22particular case.
07:25The incident has sent shockwaves, once again turning the spotlight on the devastating human cost of unresolved domestic conflict.
07:37For when marital discord turns into a bitter battle, children can find themselves trapped in a conflict they neither created
07:45nor understand, caught in the crossfire and left to bear the consequences.
07:53Bureau report, India Today.
07:57Joining me on the show, Dr. Sandeep Vohra, Senior Consultant and a Psychiatrist, Yashwardan Azad, former IPS officer.
08:04Anant Kumar Asthana is a child justice and criminal lawyer.
08:09Vrinda Adige is a women's rights activist.
08:12Dr. Vohra, a father books a luxury hotel, checks in with his two little girls for what looks like a
08:18weekend and within hours they are dead by his hand.
08:20What does this case tell us about the point at which marital breakdown turns lethal for the children?
08:29Actually, it happens in extreme cases of marital dispute in which the one spouse is trying to, you know, counter
08:38his or her feelings towards the other spouse.
08:42And they are trying to, you know, get even with each other.
08:46But in a case like this, usually it, you know, it happens in such cases when brain has gone from
08:53a normal logical thinking into an extremely distorted thought pattern.
08:57In which the father himself not only is totally out of reality but tends to think that children also are
09:09somehow, if something happens to him or if he thinks that the wife is having an affair, we don't know
09:15the facts.
09:16So, he thinks that if, because of that affair, maybe he should, you know, kill himself.
09:24Then he'll kill his children.
09:26It is a case in which many times we see that it is just thinking so distorted that it is
09:33a delusional state of mind.
09:34I can't say for this case because that can be understood only once we have a psychological autopsy.
09:39But yes, in delusional state of your mind, you can actually start imagining things and in which you actually have
09:45a total imagination of multiple aspects of your life, including children.
09:51And, you know, what we are seeing, Yashvardhan Azad, that this is not one-off incident.
09:57It's almost like a worrisome trend.
09:59Multiple such incidents.
10:00And I'll ask the producer to put those recent cases.
10:04And, of course, this double murder which has happened at a Bengaluru hotel.
10:09There is a drowning incident which happened in Haryana on August 6th.
10:14Then there is a Kerala River mass suicide.
10:16Another case of smothering which happened in May of 2026.
10:21Chittur family poisoning.
10:23You know, this is what we are seeing.
10:25So, in this particular case, Yashvardhan Azad, the accused survived a clear suicide attempt and is now in hospital.
10:33Once he is fit for interrogation, what are the critical investigative priorities beyond the confession and the note?
10:39Digital evidence, prior threats, WhatsApp exchanges and also financial demands.
10:44What do you think will be critical here?
10:47Yes, I think the most important would be the weapon with which he has killed his children.
10:53And that should be available in the hotel itself because he tried to slit his own throat.
11:00The physical evidence is there.
11:02And then, of course, there are these circumstantial evidence with all the peripheral evidence surrounding the discord and the timing,
11:10the electronic evidence, his mobile.
11:12So, the evidence-wise, it is absolutely not an issue.
11:17But the serious problem, I think, for the police now is that in these cases of marital discord, and when
11:26they reach the Mahila police,
11:28thana, most often they're not, then it is important to see the position of the children, too, and then inform
11:36the child welfare agencies.
11:39Because I think the safety net, as far as the children are concerned, is very, very poor in India.
11:45Of course, you have Child Protection Commission and things like that, but they don't operate.
11:50And perhaps for the police, and I'm also shocked seeing the number of cases which you pointed out.
11:57For the police, maybe it may not be an issue because they might not be thinking beyond solving the marital
12:04discord by counselling or by registering cases,
12:07to also look at the children who will be at the centre of this kind of a crisis.
12:13And as the doctor rightly said, that you are driven to that stage where you want to hurt the spouse
12:19by killing your own children.
12:22So, this is something shocking, a new dimension added to the marital discord.
12:26And last thing, Maria, is that the domestic discourse in India are very messy.
12:33The courts don't give you divorce, if the man wants it.
12:36If the poor, if there is poverty, then it is difficult for the woman to give a divorce because there
12:42is no safety net.
12:44And then, of course, the children, the issue of the children is of most importance, which is to do because
12:51of the safety net.
12:52So, I think we have to look at this problem afresh, and I'm glad you brought this up.
12:56Okay, so, Mr. Astana, as a lawyer, how should we be reading the circumstances here?
13:03There is a note which frames the killings as taking the children with me.
13:08That's what the father said.
13:11How do courts and prosecutors treat such statements?
13:14Do they strengthen the case for intentional homicide?
13:17Or they sometimes are used to urge diminished responsibility?
13:24Because, you know, in custody battles, that's often seen as an important gap.
13:30See, there is a case-to-case basis approach which prosecutors and the judges adopt while adjudicating specific cases.
13:37So, I can't tell you a standard response which will be taken in a case like this.
13:42But what I can definitely point out that the conventional assumption about family and parents being safe for children was
13:52never true at the first place.
13:53So, the assumption which has been there that the family and the parents will be a natural abode for safety.
14:01These kind of cases, and you have rightly pointed out, one after one, one after one, we have several cases
14:06where children are abused by their parents.
14:10I think it is the right time that we stop and have a look at what needs to be reconsidered
14:20in our systems and laws.
14:22One example I will cite, in 2014-15, we were looking at the definition of corporal punishment in the Humanitarian
14:31Justice Act.
14:32And when the government had proposed the bill, it included families, but when the act came, the families were removed
14:40from the scope of the corporal punishment.
14:43The assumption was that why should we bring law into family?
14:47But cases of this nature do remind that we need state and laws to now look into the spaces where
14:55parents, family are engaging with these children and increased its capacity to do follow-up.
15:02Child protection system is there, but its follow-up capacity is extremely limited to the extent of, I, you know,
15:11even calling it, you know, nil, that the capacity of the child protection system is only responsive, is not protective
15:20and preventive enough.
15:21You know, you know, you made an important point, but what we are seeing, Brinda Adige, here is that there
15:27is a need for a cultural conversation, I would say, which has to begin.
15:31You know, because this is not an isolated family tragedy.
15:38This is about marital dispute gone wrong, and then children are seen as ownership, almost like a property of parents,
15:48one of the parents, and hence they decide to take life.
15:51You are absolutely right, Maria.
15:54We have to look at it from a cultural context.
15:57We have to look at it from a social context.
15:59Because as a patriarchal society that we are, the assumption is that, yes, children and women are both possessions of
16:08that family, whoever that family might be.
16:11And the many cases that you mentioned goes to show that we are not taking serious cognizance of these cases
16:19and not looking at how all the various agencies can converge to address this problem from that point of view.
16:28Now, children you mentioned have become collateral damage in these kind of cases, but the victims, even after they are
16:38dead, the courts and the prosecution does not look at them as someone who must get that justice, the perpetrator
16:48to be brought to justice.
16:49It is looked at it from a very, very patriarchal, cultural, social, and emotional point.
16:55In fact, many of the courts have also phrased it is a crime of passion.
17:01And in this crime of passion, there is no punishment.
17:04So, one part of it is that there is no punishment.
17:07The other part of it is we are trying to keep the families together.
17:11What about children?
17:13What about their rights?
17:15Who is going to take care of it?
17:17Like the prosecutor pointed out, you know, the Juvenile Justice Act, yes, they removed the word family.
17:22Why must you remove it?
17:24Because even today, irrespective of what the educational qualifications of families are, what professionals they might be in,
17:32they still assume that children are possessions, that they can do whatever they want with that child.
17:38Yes, you know, because that will bring me, the psychiatrist again, let me bring Dr. Bora again in this discussion.
17:46Dr. Bora, there is this state of mind here.
17:51Because, you know, custody battles, we have often seen that it turns violent.
17:55And the family courts move slowly because they do not want that risk to children perhaps escalate soon.
18:06But it has happened.
18:08More than often, before it reaches the court, the parents take these extreme steps where children are killed.
18:19What does it speak about broken parents?
18:23See, one thing is very important for us to understand that it is something which is extremely rare from the
18:31thought process of a parent to kill the child.
18:33It is very, very unnatural.
18:35So there are two conditions.
18:37One is extreme level of mistrust, distrust and vengeance feeling.
18:44If you look at purely psychosocial way.
18:47Vengeance towards your own children?
18:50Towards wife and trying to take it out by harming the children, saying that, thinking that that is the extreme
18:57form of punishment I am giving her.
18:58And of course, harming myself.
19:00But in this case, which looks more to me, is a paranoid state.
19:05A person who has either undetected paranoid illness in which the suspicion in his mind first goes to the wife.
19:14If then the suspicion, many times we see such cases in our clinic, they come and they say that even
19:20the children are not mine.
19:22These children are from the other men's because my wife is having an affair, which is purely a delusional state.
19:27So we don't know in this case, but yes, theoretically, these are the areas when we see such form of
19:34extreme self-harm or a homicidal act.
19:38So any of these could have been in this case, but yes, it is always better to identify and see
19:44if these things can be prevented.
19:46But lack of awareness and not understanding the degree of, you know, marital disharmony can sometimes, you know, very, very,
19:56you know, negative state of mind.
19:58Dr. Vora, you know, they have checked in into a five-star hotel.
20:03So certainly it was about a good weekend, good family time.
20:08What is that point or are you seeing this as some kind of conspiracy?
20:13No, what I personally say is that based on that suicide note and of course, we have to look at
20:19the fact that whether this person was under any psychiatric treatment,
20:22whether there were any telltale signs.
20:25And I think the wife, his wife is the one who can actually confirm what has been happening.
20:31Because purely at the ideational level, if somebody is having an affair, you don't go around killing your children.
20:39No, it is only an extremely negative and a delusional state of mind, you are likely to do it more.
20:45What was in this case would be possible for the person who actually forensic psychiatrist who evaluates.
20:51But you are like, you know, not saying it enough by saying that it is just delusion.
20:59Is there more to the state of mind than just delusion?
21:03It is, no.
21:04It is a criminal state of mind.
21:05It is a criminal state of mind and it is because of the fact that the suicide note says that
21:12it was severe marital disharmony.
21:14So, it is a combination of all these factors which has led to this unfortunate situation.
21:19Please, Yashwarda Nazar, 30 seconds and then I will start wrapping up this conversation.
21:24Yes, you know, one of the most important things that we are not seeing in the case of marital discord
21:29is that the entire focus is on patching up, forcing the people to get together.
21:34Unfortunately, no one realizes what really happens to the children because they continue suffering.
21:40Second, these cases are also occurring where, you know, a man is a dope, a drug addict or something
21:47and the woman is suffering and she is not able to maintain the child.
21:51In such cases, there has to be a fresh look and appraisal of the children involved in all this,
21:57which we are not seeing.
21:58One is because the safety net is not there and the second is because we tend to ignore it
22:03because the entire focus is on the victim or, you know, bringing together those two,
22:08forcing together virtually and even the court student.
22:11This is a very serious flaw.
22:13So, as Brinda was saying, yes, there has to be a kind of a different approach,
22:19a whole cultural reorientation that when you are having these marital troubles,
22:23look at the inner troubles too, which may resurface later with very serious consequences.
22:29You know, what is inevitably happening here is that one of the parents think
22:35that this is in the best interest of the children.
22:37And that is the reason why they think I will not let them live without me.
22:42That kind of a unilateral claim here.
22:44So, Mr. Astana, come in 30 seconds.
22:46Let's, what do you think and why is such, there is a rise in such cases?
22:53Why do you think these cases are going up with every passing day?
22:57And what does it say about the child protection red flag?
23:04Natal family violence is a thing.
23:08Let's recognize it.
23:10Let's not seek a medical justification for this.
23:12It's a thing.
23:13Natal family violence is a thing.
23:15And there are ample number of cases.
23:17Entire judiciary is struggling with finding a solution.
23:19We do not have adequate response in our capabilities to deal with these kinds of cases.
23:26Neither in the family, nor in the society, nor in the judicial and police institutions.
23:33So, we have to recognize that the natal family violence is real.
23:37Then only a solution can be discovered.
23:40Okay.
23:41Okay.
23:41Brindadi, get 20 seconds quickly, ma'am.
23:44All the time, domestic violence, every agency only asks for compromises without giving an
23:51iota of thought to the best interest of the child or children.
23:55And I think it is time now that the state brings this up very seriously and asks every agency
24:01that they have to, have to take decisions, take alternate courses that are in the best
24:07interest of children.
24:08In India, we don't have anything called protective custody.
24:11We can't take the child and put them in the government homes.
24:14So, what is the next course of action?
24:16To find spaces within their extended families and relatives, which means the agencies have
24:23to work much more closely with everybody, the communities, the families, extended families,
24:29and it has to be in the best interest of the child.
24:32And that means you have to have a report working in convergence with everybody.
24:37You know, the question is, which body will be doing a relationship?
24:41Risk assessment of a father to take his, who's going to take the life of his children?
24:47Two young minors here, five and ten.
24:50Thank you so much for joining us.
24:51Yashvardhan Azad, Brinda Adige, Mr. Asthana and Dr. Vohra.
24:55That's all from me on this edition of News Track.
24:57Thanks for watching.
24:58Thanks for watching.
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