Mystery suicides of two teenagers haunt Gwalior

BHOPAL: A dark cloud hangs over Gwalior after two suicides with uncanny similarities within a week.
Both victims, a young girl and a teenaged boy, came from families with military backgrounds. On June 21, a ninth-grader fell to her death from a high-rise. Her father is an Armyman. Four days later, a 17-year-old boy - son of an ex-Army officer - died by suicide.
The boy's parents fainted on seeing his body on the ground, shot through the temple. He had used his father licenced gun, say police. "We are yet to ascertain the cause," Gwalior SP Dharamveer Yadav told TOI.
The boy recently passed Class 12 with 80% marks and was preparing for competitive exams. His father dreamed he would become an IPS officer.
Police and forensic experts inspected the scene. No suicide note has been found. Police hope to get some clues from his mobile phone. Senior forensics scientist Akhilesh Bhargava also examined the scene. Police say the boy's father had deposited his pistol with police ahead of election and retrieved it on June 22.
Nearly a week on, mystery shrouds the death of the Army personnel's daughter. Here, too, police are relying on data to be extracted from her phone, especially one of her last conversations with a friend. Police have not found anything significant after questioning the friend whom the student visited just before her death.
Her family suspects foul play, so police are investigating the case from all possible angles.
The Class 9 girl left home around 6.50pm on Friday, telling her mother that she was going to meet her friend, Muskan, near Dussehra ground. Instead, Varsha went to an apartment on Bhind Road, where Muskan was attending dance classes.
Muskan called the girl's father and told him that she was crying and someone should come immediately to take her home. When the Armyman father tried to call her, her phone was switched off. He then called Muskan, but her phone was also switched off. Family members rushed to highrise but it was too late. She was lying on the ground and was declared dead in hospital.
Her family suspects murder, saying she couldn't have fallen from such a height as she didn't have any head injury and even her mobile phone was found unbroken in her hand.
"A woman living in the apartment told police that she saw her jumping and tried to stop her, but she wouldn't listen," ASP Akhilesh Renwal said, adding that investigations are underway.
Although both children come from military families, Gwalior SP Dharamveer said there is nothing to indicate the cases are related.