Botched 'suicide pact' in Mira Bhayandar: Parents booked for daughter’s murder

The Vasai couple who allegedly killed their seven-year-old daughter in a family suicide pact that went awry, by giving her a soft drink tainted with rat poison, were booked for murder by the Kashimira police on Wednesday. The incident was reported from Room No. 212 of the Seasons hotel in Kashimira on Monday.

While seven-year-old Anayka Ryan Brako was found dead, her mother Poonam, 30, who was found in a semi-unconscious state, was rushed to the civil hospital in Bhayandar where her condition is now reported to be stable. The child’s father, Ryan Stefan Brako, 37, who had fled the spot, was traced at another lodge near the railway station in Mira Road on Tuesday morning. Bottles of rat poison were recovered from the scene of the crime, hinting at a suicide pact. “We have booked the couple under sections 302 (murder), 309 (attempt to commit suicide) and 34 (common intention) of the IPC. The viscera of the deceased girl has been preserved and final opinion reserved,” said Senior Police Inspector Sanjay Hazare of the Kashimira police station. While Ryan is already in custody, Poonam is still under treatment and will be arrested after she recovers. Further investigations are underway.

Finding himself in a financial crisis, Ryan, employed with a private company, had sold off his flat in Vasai before moving into a rented flat and later, to a lodge in the area. With debtors breathing down his neck, Ryan and his family checked into the Seasons hotel on May 27. However, when Ryan’s attempts to arrange funds failed, the couple allegedly entered a suicide pact and administered rat poison to their daughter before consuming it themselves, on Sunday night. It is suspected that Ryan tried to strangle his wife on finding out that the poison had failed to work on her, following which she lost consciousness. Ryan then walked out of his room, sold his mobile and returned with two knives, but could not muster the courage to stab his wife, or himself, police said.