A Hyderabad couple died by suicide after killing their children – 13 and 10 years old.

In a note left behind, the couple wrote in Telugu, “I had no other option but to end my life. Please forgive me. I have been struggling in my career and suffering mentally and physically. I have been suffering from diabetes, nerve, and kidney-related issues.”

Sources told NDTV Chandrasekhar Reddy, 44, and his wife, Kavitha, 35, laboured through financial hardship brought on by Mr Reddy having been unemployed since 2023.

Mr Reddy, the police said, had earlier worked as a junior lecturer in a private college.

Now, tragically, left with little or no money and no hope apparent, Mr Reddy and Ms Kavitha resorted to the cruelest of actions – killing their children and taking their own lives.

Police, alerted by a call to the 100 emergency line, found their bodies at their home in the city’s Habsiguda area on Monday night.

Mr Reddy and Ms Kavitha were found in separate rooms, while their children were found in their respective bedrooms. A preliminary inquiry suggests the couple strangled their son, 10-year-old Vishwan Reddy, and daughter, Shrita Reddy, before hanging themselves.

The boy was studying in Class V and the girl in Class IX.

Both Mr Reddy and Ms Kavitha were from Telangana’s Kalwakurthy, and both had family in Hyderabad. Their deaths, and that of their children, underline the fragile daily lives of the vast majority of India’s 1.44 billion-strong population – many of whom try desperately to make ends meet or, as in this case, deal with the physical and mental trauma of long-term unemployment.

The bodies have been stored at the city’s Gandhi Hospital and post-mortems have been ordered.

With input from agencies

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