Sanjay Seth, who ran a big textile shop in Panna city, and his wife Meenu Seth were found lying in their home with gunshot wounds on Saturday. Police said prima facie, it appears to be a case of suicide case as chance of involvement of outsiders are rare, but they were not ruling out other possible angles and investigating the matter accordingly.
The couple lived in Kishoreganj area in the heart of the city. Both of them were in their room on the second floor at the time of the incident. On hearing gunshots, other family members reached upstairs to find that Meenu Seth had already died, but Seth was still breathing. However, he too died before the family members could take him to the hospital.
Beside a suicide note, a video of Seth surfaced on social media, in which he was heard saying: “Gurji mujhe maf karna, aapka chela har gaya. Aap Sanatan ki alakh jalaye rakhna (Guruji, pardon me, your disciple has lost. You keep the light of Sanatan Dharma shining on).”
As per his family, he was a devotee of Bageshwar Dham head and spiritual preacher Dhirendra Shastri (Mishra), who probably was the ‘Guruji’. However, police is yet to validate this.
In another video he recorded before taking the final step, Seth is seen crying and naming those who did not repay money they borrowed from him.
“Please return my money for the sake of my children, my daughter’s marriage. Organise her wedding with Rs 50 lakh to Rs 1 crore… my daughter has money in her account, Rs 29 lakh is kept in the locker. My wife and I are both going away, unable to live. There is a lot of jewellery for the daughter. My children, excuse me,” he was heard in the viral videos.
Police said the investigation has been started on the basis of suiside note, and the family members and names mentioned in the list are being interrogated.
“It doesn’t look like any outsider was involved, the couple were alone in that room,” Panna’s Superintendent of Police Dharamraj Meena told the press on Sunday, adding that, it, prime facie, appears to be a family dispute but they are “probing from all angles”.