- Family confirmed man’s long-term depression; work pressure cited.
A 30-year-old software engineer was found dead alongside his 28-year-old wife at their rented apartment in an upscale residential complex in Gurugram on Thursday morning, prompting police to investigate a suspected murder-suicide.
The man, identified as Mohammad Aslam, allegedly died by suicide, while his wife, Farhana, was found with injury marks on her neck, according to police. The couple were originally from Kerala and had moved to Gurugram from Bengaluru around three months ago.
Aslam worked for an Indonesia-based technology company with an office in Sector 58, while Farhana was a homemaker, senior police officers said.
Email Alerts Colleagues
The incident came to light after Aslam’s colleagues received an email from him at around 7 am on Thursday. In the message, he allegedly described it as his “last day on earth” and referred to his struggles with mental health.
The email also contained emergency contact details for his father, two relatives and the couple’s landlord, with a request that they be informed.
Concerned by the message, his colleagues attempted to contact the people listed. The landlord subsequently alerted the Badshahpur police station at around 8 am, setting the investigation in motion.
Bodies Found Inside Apartment
A police team reached the couple’s first-floor apartment at M3M The Marina in Sector 68, accompanied by the society’s maintenance staff and Aslam’s colleagues.
Officers found Aslam hanging from a ceiling fan in the bedroom. Farhana was lying motionless on the floor, with injuries visible on her neck, police said.
A note recovered from the apartment contained the words, “We are leaving this world.” Investigators also found the words “I love you” handwritten on Farhana’s clothes.
The landlord, who had been alerted by Aslam’s colleagues, also discovered the bodies. The apartment door was reportedly open when he arrived.
Police collected several items from the scene, including three laptops, two mobile phones, a rope, a diary, a pair of scissors and a pen drive. The seized material has been sent for forensic examination to help investigators establish the sequence of events.
Police Probe Murder-Suicide Angle
Police suspect that Aslam killed his wife before taking his own life. The initial assessment is based on the circumstances in which the bodies were discovered and the injuries found on Farhana.
“Preliminary probe indicates that the man strangled his wife with a rope and then died by suicide. He had mental health issues, which he mentioned in the email sent to his office,” a police officer said, as per reports.
A murder case has been registered under Section 103(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). Investigators are examining the evidence collected from the apartment as part of the ongoing probe.
Family Cites Depression
Family members told investigators that the couple shared a close relationship and that no marital discord had come to their attention.
However, relatives said Aslam had been receiving treatment for depression for approximately one-and-a-half years. They also suggested that work-related pressure might have contributed to his distress.
Aslam was an alumnus of the National Institute of Technology (NIT), Calicut, and the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Indore. Farhana, meanwhile, had also worked for an IT firm from home.
