New Delhi: In a horrifying incident, a man allegedly strangled his mother, sister, and minor brother in Laxmi Nagar, East Delhi, on Monday after feeding them food laced with dhatura, a poisonous plant.

Police officials said the accused committed the crime due to financial distress and later surrendered at a local police station, confessing to the killings.

The accused, Yashbir Singh (23), a resident of Subhash Chowk, surrendered at Laxmi Nagar police station around 5 pm.

Yashbir told cops that his family was facing acute financial hardship and was struggling to make ends meet. His father, a truck driver, has reportedly not been living with the family for the past six months.

The accused claimed that he had taken a term life insurance policy worth around Rs 1.5 crore and had made several attempts to end his life over the past two months by staging accidents, claiming snake bites and injecting air, but was unsuccessful, they said.

“He stated that his mother confronted him a day earlier and told him that if he intended to die, he should first kill all family members and then face the consequences,” a senior police officer said, clarifying that the claims are based on the accused's version and are being verified.

According to the accused's disclosure, he went to a temple near Yamuna Bank Metro Station on Monday morning, collected dhatura seeds from a nearby plant and prepared laddoos, the police said.

He then allegedly fed the laddoos to his mother Kavita (46), sister Meghna (24) and brother Mukul (14), they said.

After the three family members lost consciousness, the accused allegedly strangled them between 1.30 pm and 2 pm at their residence, they said, adding that after killing his mother and siblings, Yashbir allegedly came to the police station and surrendered.

The police said the facts stated so far are based on the accused's confession and that the matter is under investigation. Crime scene inspection has been initiated and forensic teams have been deployed to examine the scene, collect evidence and ascertain the exact cause of death.

An FIR is being registered and investigation teams have been formed to verify the sequence of events and corroborate the accused's claims, police said.

The police officer said that the accused was not doing anything from the last six months and was a driver by profession.

"We have arrested the accused further questioning from him and his neighbours are underway," the officer added. PTI