When Gopalkrishnan Panicker, who lived in a railway colony in Kalwa, a division of Thane district in Maharashtra, refused to marry off his daughter to her suitor, little did he know that it would all end in bloodshed.
Yet that is what happened.
On Monday, Sachin Chavan (23), who lived in the same colony, committed suicide in Shirdi, but not before killing Panicker, who did not approve of his daughter Rajani's relationship with him.
Sachin was unemployed and Panicker did not like that. He told Rajani to break up with him and she obeyed.
Sachin soon started making threatening calls to Panicker at his residence. Panicker had registered a complaint at the Kalwa police station that he was being threatened, but nothing happened.
"Uncle did not want to put Sachin in trouble. He just wanted him to realise his mistakes," said Ajit Pillai, one of Gopalkrishnan's relatives. "So he didn't mention his name in the police complaint."
Ajit said that the calls had disturbed Panicker so much that he did not attend work for about a week for fear that Sachin would harm his wife and younger daughter, who used to be home the whole day. "He even decided to take voluntary retirement and shift to Tarapur after completion of his younger daughter's Class X examination in March 2005," he said.
Sachin -- who had a diploma in hotel management -- used to work in a five-star hotel on a temporary basis. But his employer had relieved him for three months.
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"People now avoid talking to us. It is a very frustrating moment," said Sachin's younger brother Rajesh.
"I was his good friend, but he didn't share a lot with me. I knew that Rajani and Sachin were in love, but was not aware that their relationship was over," said Sachin's friend Shan.
On Thursday October 28, Sachin had made a phone call to Panicker and told him that he was calling from Saraswat Bank. He asked Panicker to come to the bank the next day to settle certain issues. But Panicker failed to turn up.
On Saturday, he went to Panicker's house and knocked on the door. Panicker opened the door a bit. Sachin told him that his younger daughter had met with an accident.
On hearing this, Panicker opened the door completely. Sachin forced his way in and slashed Panicker's throat with a knife and also stabbed him in the abdomen.
When Panicker's wife came out of the bathroom he slashed at her throat too.
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In a swift move, Sachin -- who had brought a burkha to make his escape easier -- opened the door and bolted.
"When I heard about the incident, I went to their house, where Mrs Panicker informed me that Sachin had stabbed them. I was shocked to hear that my son had killed Mr Panicker," said Rajshree.
The society's general secretary, Phulaji Patil, said, "Nobody was aware about the affair. Mr Panicker didn't tell anyone about it. Sachin was a nice guy. I don't understand what made him commit such a crime.
"Policemen from Shirdi informed me that he had committed suicide in a hotel room".
Another nearby resident G R Yadav blamed Rajani for the incident "Why did she call off their relationship under pressure from her parents? She should have thought twice before beginning the relationship. What Sachin did was wrong, but Rajani was also responsible for it."
