The tragic deaths of seven individuals outside a house in Panchkula’s Sector 27 are under investigation. At the centre of the case is Praveen Mittal, one of the deceased, who, according to his father-in-law,  owed over Rs 1 crore to banks.

The deceased also included two elderly individuals, three children, and a woman. Praveen, a resident of Barwala in Panchkula, had been under financial distress for years and had briefly moved to Kaulgarh in Dehradun, Uttarakhand. Bank officials had reportedly been approaching him regularly for loan recovery.

“I helped him financially many times, but I had lost contact with him and my daughter recently," the father-in-law,  Aw Rakesh Gu, PT, A, said. Gupta mentioned that he used to send Rs 12,000 to Praveen monthly.

Praveen had been residing in a rented house in the Mansa Devi complex. The tragic news was relayed to the family by the Crime Branch at 4 am.

It has also been revealed that Sandeep Agarwal, Praveen’s maternal uncle’s son from Ludhiana, also provided financial assistance, including a recent sum of Rs 50,000. Sandeep received the news around 11 pm that the bodies were discovered in the same car.

The police are conducting a thorough investigation, initially suspecting suicide but examining all possibilities before concluding.

Praveen Mittal, accompanied by his family, reportedly consumed poison in their car parked outside a house in Sector 27 in Panchkula. The family included his three daughters, his wife and two elderly individuals. Before his death, Praveen reportedly mentioned attending a Baba Bageshwar Dham Dhirendra Shastri event in Panchkula and consuming poison due to his insurmountable debt.

Panchkula DCP Crime Amit Dahiya, in an exclusive conversation with News18, indicated that the case appears debt-related. Upon arrival at the scene, six people were found dead, and one person, initially conscious, later died. Dahiya clarified that there was no connection to a Hanuman Katha event.

CCTV footage revealed that the car was parked in Sector 27 at 6:45 pm, with the incident occurring after 10:00 pm. The police team is extending their investigation to locations including Dehradun and Kalka Pinjore in Haryana, and also to the house in Saketri of Mansa Devi, where the family previously resided.

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