AHMEDABAD: In a macabre incident, a father killed his wife and two young daughters in cold blood in their sleep early on Monday morning in the posh Vastrapur area of Ahmedabad.The triple murder committed by businessman Dharmesh Shah , a 50-year-old proprieter of Diva Infrastructure, sent shock-waves in the city. Cops said that Shah got up in the morning and first shot his wife Ami (48) in the head sleeping next to him around 7.15am. He then charged into the bedrooms next door in his 3BHK apartment in Ratnam flats and shot his two daughter Heli (22) and Dikha (17) in the chest.Following the gruesome murders, Dhamesh himself dialed 100 to reach the police control room and said: "I have killed my wife and daughters. I am at my home in Ratnam flats in Vastrapur. Please come". Earlier, he placed the first call to his engineer Nilesh Prajapati who when told about the heinous crime took Dharmesh's younger brother Viren on conference call and rushed to the spot.While the cops too were confounded by this call in cold-blood, they rushed to the spot and indeed found Dharmesh sitting in the drawing room, his wife and daughters lying in the pool of blood in their beds, killed in their sleep by firing six rounds in his Russian made pistol.Cops say that while Dharmesh was too stunned to speak and maintained a stoic silence without shedding a tear, preliminary inquiry has revealed that Dharmesh was battling a huge debt.As he had not appraised his family of his financial woes, a discord was ensuing in the family over raising another Rs 70 lakh for sending Dikha, who was pursuing engineering degree, abroad for management studies. The persisting family tension over raising money to send daughter abroad is reported to have pushed Dharmesh to go berserk, embarking on a murderous spree."Dharmesh had raised huge amount of loans from banks and also from friends and family. His debt is reported to run into crores," said KLN Rao , special commissioner of police, Sector-1. The senior cop rushed to the crime spot on being alerted about the sensational triple murder.Sources in the police department said that Dharmesh had taken a loan of Rs 10 crore from the bank and raised another 6-7 crore from family and friends. "While Heli, an architect, was working with Dharmesh in his firm; Diksha wished to study abroad for which Rs 70 lakh was required. A debt ridden Dharmesh could not taken the pressure of raising more money and reportedly went off the kilter killing his family, " said a source in the police department.Meanwhile, the neighbours and family were shocked. "Dharmesh hails from Bhuvardi village in Kathwada, Gandhinagar district. He is a very somber and peace loving man and may have committed this crime in a fit of anger and frustration," said Ajay Shah, Dharmesh's paternal cousin.BV Barvadiya, Dharmesh's neighbour said that the Shah family was one of the first to move into Ratnam flats 17 years ago. "The whole family was very joyous and religious. They would participate in celebration of Navratri, Ganpati festivals organised in the society. We are shocked and cannot fathom that such murders have happened in our neighbourhood," said Barvadiya.

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