For several days, a father and his daughters moved through ordinary routines, unaware of what was building.
In the coastal town of Mamallapuram, a father's private anguish over a broken marriage became a catastrophe that claimed the lives of his two young daughters, aged seven and four. Pradeep, 35, had spent several days at a guesthouse with the children before administering poison to them and attempting to end his own life on the night of February 14. He remains hospitalized in critical condition while investigators piece together the circumstances that led a man, estranged from his wife and perhaps from hope itself, to make an irreversible choice. It is a tragedy that reminds us how the collapse of a family can carry consequences far beyond those who caused it.
- Two children, seven and four years old, were found dead in a locked guesthouse room in Mamallapuram after their father poisoned them and attempted suicide.
- For days before the incident, the father had maintained an outward routine of beach walks with his daughters, concealing whatever decision was forming within him.
- Guesthouse staff grew alarmed by prolonged silence and forced the door open Saturday afternoon, alerting police to the scene inside.
- Pradeep was rushed to hospital in critical condition, while his daughters' bodies were transferred for post-mortem examination in Chengalpattu.
- Police are now reconstructing the timeline of the family's estrangement, the days at the guesthouse, and the events of that final evening.
On February 9, Pradeep, a 35-year-old man estranged from his wife following prolonged marital disputes, checked into a guesthouse in Mamallapuram with his two daughters. For several days, the three kept a quiet routine — mornings and evenings at the beach — that gave no outward sign of what was unfolding in the father's mind.
On Friday evening, the family returned to their room and did not come out again. Pradeep administered poison to both children, then attempted to take his own life. The guesthouse staff, noticing the unbroken silence, knocked repeatedly before calling the police. Officers forced the door open around 1:30 p.m. on Saturday to find both girls dead and Pradeep unconscious.
He was rushed to Government Hospital in critical condition. The children were taken to Government General Hospital in Chengalpattu for post-mortem examination. Police have since begun documenting the marital estrangement, the days leading up to the incident, and the circumstances inside the room — assembling the facts of a tragedy whose essential truth was already, irreversibly, written.
A man checked into a guesthouse in Mamallapuram with his two young daughters on February 9, carrying with him the weight of a marriage that had fractured beyond repair. For several days, he and the children—seven and four years old—moved through a routine of mornings and evenings at the beach, the kind of ordinary outings that might have looked, to anyone watching, like a father spending time with his daughters. No one knew what was building behind closed doors.
Predeep, 35, had been living estranged from his wife following disputes that had driven the couple apart. The daughters remained in his care. The guesthouse in Mamallapuram became, for those few days, the container of his life—a place where he could be alone with the children, away from the city, away from the circumstances that had unmade his family.
On Friday evening, the three returned to their room and did not emerge. What happened inside remains the terrible clarity of a decision made and acted upon. Pradeep administered poison to both children. Then he attempted to take his own life.
The guesthouse staff noticed the silence first. By 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, when no one had come out, when knocking on the door yielded nothing but more silence, they called the police. Officers arrived and forced the door open. Both children were dead. Pradeep lay unconscious, his body still fighting what his mind had chosen.
He was rushed to Government Hospital in critical condition. The children were taken to Government General Hospital in Chengalpattu for post-mortem examination. The investigation began—police documenting the marital disputes, the estrangement, the days at the beach, the final evening in the room. The facts accumulated: a man, two daughters, poison, an attempt at his own death, and the wreckage left behind for everyone else to understand.
As Pradeep remained hospitalized in critical condition, the machinery of investigation moved forward. The post-mortem examinations would establish the precise cause of death. The police would reconstruct the timeline, interview witnesses, document the circumstances. But the essential fact—that two children would not leave that room alive—had already been fixed.
Notable Quotes
Police sources indicated the man was estranged from his wife following marital disputes, with the couple's daughters staying in his care.— Police investigation
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
What made him choose that moment, that place? Was there something that tipped him over?
The police say marital disputes. But that's the container, not the thing itself. He'd been estranged from his wife for some time. The daughters were with him. He took them to the beach every day—that's what strikes me. That routine, that normalcy, held something else underneath.
Do we know if anyone saw signs? The guesthouse staff, other guests?
Not from what's reported. He checked in, he took the children out, he came back. To anyone watching, it was just a father and his daughters. The staff only grew suspicious when the silence lasted too long.
How long was he there before it happened?
From February 9 to Friday—so nearly a week. Days of beach trips, of being together, of whatever was happening in his mind. Then one evening, he didn't come back out.
And he's still alive. Still in critical condition.
Yes. He attempted to end his life too, but his body survived what his mind decided. Now he's in a hospital bed while the investigation continues around him.
What happens to him if he recovers?
That's the question no one can answer yet. The law will have its say. But the fact of what he did—that doesn't change.