Kanpur: A 48-year-old man allegedly killed his 11-year-old twin daughters by slitting their throats with a sharp-edged weapon at his flat in Uttar Pradesh’s Kanpur in early Sunday, April 19, police said.
The accused, identified as Shashi Ranjan Mishra, a medical representative, has been arrested, they said.
The crime took place at Trimoorti Apartment in Kidwai Nagar in the Naubasta police station area, where Mishra lived with his wife Reshma, who hails from Siliguri in West Bengal, his twin daughters, and their six-year-old son.
Commissioner of Police Raghubir Lal told PTI, “A police response vehicle (PRV) received a call around 4.30 am about the murder of twin sisters. On reaching the flat, the PRV personnel found both girls lying dead in a pool of blood, while the accused was present inside.”
The police said Mishra, who originally hails from Bihar, himself alerted them about the incident. He has been detained and is being questioned.
Forensic teams have inspected the scene and collected evidence, while a sniffer dog unit was also called. The bodies of the deceased have been sent for post-mortem examination.
‘He does not deserve to live’
“He does not deserve to live,” lamented Reshma.
She had come to Kanpur from West Bengal’s Siliguri and married Shashi Ranjan Mishra in 2014. She described a life that had slowly unravelled behind closed doors. The family lived in a rented apartment in Kidwai Nagar, and were estranged by routines. She slept with their six-year-old son, while Mishra shared another room with the twin girls.
Once a medical representative, Mishra had left his job a few years ago to start a business, but had recently been without work. Reshma, too, who earlier worked at a beauty parlour, was unemployed.
According to Reshma, the marriage had turned turbulent over the years. Mishra allegedly grew increasingly suspicious and accused her of infidelity and installed CCTVs across the house.
He drank, took sleeping pills, and had been battling depression, especially after his mother’s death. “He had said earlier that he would end his life,” she told police, adding that he had even spoken about dying along with the children.
Night of horror
CCTV footage later showed Mishra taking one of the girls to the washroom around 2:30 am and returning, suggesting both children were alive at that point. What happened afterwards remains the most chilling gap in the timeline.
Police said Mishra confessed to mixing sleeping pills into the children’s food, rendering them unconscious before strangling them and later slitting their throats with a cleaver he had purchased a day earlier.
Investigators noted the absence of any signs of struggle, reinforcing suspicions that the girls were incapacitated before the attack.
Reshma said she had no idea of the killings until police reached their door in the early hours. “I was asleep. I did not know when it happened,” she told officials, still in shock. Her statement has formed the basis of an FIR registered at Naubasta police station.
Police officers say the motive remains unclear, though Mishra reportedly cited anxiety about his daughters’ future.
Police are examining possible psychological distress, depression, and financial strain as contributing factors. Forensic teams have combed the flat, collecting evidence, while CCTV footage is being analysed to reconstruct the final hours.
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