Raigad: Driven to the edge by her husband’s alcoholism and accusations of infidelity, a woman from Mahad in the Raigad district killed her six children, all under the age of ten, before trying to kill herself. The woman, who survived the attempt, has been arrested and charged with murder, while the police are also exploring grounds to take action against the husband.
According to the Raigad police, the incident occurred late on Monday evening in the Kharavli village in Mahad. The police said the woman, Runa Sahni, 30, lived with her husband Chikhuri, 32, their five daughters and one son. Chikhuri is a mason by profession and the family hails from Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh. They had moved to Maharashtra a few years ago in search of better livelihood and were currently residing in Kharavli.
As per the police, on Monday evening, some villagers saw a visibly upset Runa leading her children to a well. Even before they could react, Runa pushed all her children inside the well one after the other. The horrified villagers rushed just as Runa was about to jump herself. They overpowered her and dragged her away, while some others jumped inside to try and save the children. At the same time, one of the villagers called the police, and a team from the Mahad MIDC police station was rushed to the spot.
The children were pulled out of the well and rushed to a local government hospital, where they were all declared dead before admission. They have been identified as Roshni, 10, Karishma, 8, Reshma, 6, Vidya, 5, Shivraj, 3, and Radha, 2. A Mahad MIDC police officer said Chikhuri and Runa’s marriage was falling apart and they fought over other reasons as well.
“The family had moved to a new house five months ago and one of the other houses in the area was shared by a group of bachelors. Chikhuri began suspecting that Runa was trying to get close to them, and would assault her,” said the officer. On Monday, Chikhuri picked a fight with Runa over the cleaning of their house, which angered her and she left with her children without telling him.
“We have arrested Runa and charged her with murder under the Indian Penal Code. She was produced in court and has been remanded in our custody till June 4. In case she gives us a complaint against her husband, we will take appropriate action,” said sub divisional police officer Nilesh Tambe, Mahad sub division.
