New Delhi, July 03: A practising doctor took her twin daughters to a three star hotel in Pitampura on Thursday, saying they were going to swim in the hotel pool. The bodies of the 4-year-olds are now awaiting postmortem.
She had administered lethal injections to them in the hotel room, before injecting herself with a double dose. Dr Rupa Ranjan (35), working with the Ambedkar Hospital, is recuperating in a critical state in Max hospital.
Though the police are not clear about the reason behind the extreme step, it appears to have been preceded by a domestic spat. Her husband, Dr Rajiv Ranjan, a surgeon in Harish Chand hospital, has told the police that they had an ugly argument on Tuesday night, when she told him that she wanted to open a private nursing home.
She had already talked to her parents, who are settled in the US, about the finances, Rajiv said. He, however, told her that they would open the nursing home with their own money.
Outside the couple’s rented home in Rohini’s Sector 11, the landlord, Suman Krishnkunj, said: “Rupa left with her children, Twinkle and Tanya, in an autorickshaw around 5.30 pm.”
At 6 pm, she reached Hotel City Park in Pitampura and booked a room. She then took her daughters to the hotel swimming pool and left them there.
The hotel’s spokesperson, Praveer Kumar Roy, said: “She booked a taxi and went to a nearby shop, where she purchased some toys. Then she went to a medical store and bought syringes.”
The CCTV footages obtained from the hotel show that the girls played in the lawn adjacent to the swimming pool, said a police officer. Around 7.45 pm, she took them to the room.
Soon after, Roy said, he got two phone calls. “The callers said the occupants of room number 601 needed medical help. I immediately went and knocked on the locked door. There was no response. Then I called the police.” The police broke open the door to find her and the children on the bed, unconscious. They were taken to the Max hospital, where the children were declared dead.
Six syringes were recovered from the room, four used and two unused. Rupa had used some kind of anaesthesia — one dose each for her daughters and two for herself.
An officer said Rupa had first called her husband and told him that she was committing suicide and killing the twins as well. It was her husband who called the hotel management.
A statement from the office of the Deputy Commissioner of Police (NorthWest) said: “We have registered a case of murder and attempted suicide. Further investigations are on.”
The couple’s neighbours find the incident hard to believe. Their landlord, Krishnkunj, said: “They have been living here for the past two years. We knew them to be a happy family.”
—–Agencies