The Thane police, yet to ascertain the motive behind the gruesome act of 35 year-old Hasnain Warekar who murdered 14 members of his family including his parents, wife and two children and then committed suicide, today said they would also seek the help of psychiatrists.
The macabre killings took place in the early hours of Sunday in Kasarwadvali area of neighbouring Thane city.
"Until we record the statement of the lone survivor Subiya Barmar (one of Hasnain's sisters) we cannot say anything about his motive," said the joint commissioner of police Ashutosh Dumbre at a press conference in Thane today.
"We are considering all the angles such as property dispute, psychological disorder, etc," he said, adding that the investigators would also seek the help of psychiatrists.
According to the neighbours, he said, Hasnain and his family enjoyed a good reputation, and nobody thought he "would even harm an ant".
As to property dispute being a possible trigger, Dumbre said police hadn't yet come across any evidence of the family owning huge assets, but the probe was on.
In July 2012, the accused, his wife and their elder daughter were admitted in Thane's Titan hospital for food poisoning after taking medicines given by some 'hakim', Dumbre said, adding the police would check the record related to this incident too.
The investigators were waiting for the autopsy reports of the victims to find out if they had been sedated before the murder, said Dumbre. The reports were expected in a couple of days.
Police learnt from the neighbours that Hasnain used to kill goats for the ritual 'kurbani' (sacrifice), and therefore knew how to use butcher's knife, the weapon used in the macabre crime.
