Archive · 20 Aug 2026
Mumbai sailor family deaths: formatted phones deepen murder-suicide mystery
Police in Mumbai are investigating the deaths of a sailor, his wife, and their two children.
The family was found inside their home on Saturday.
Police think the wife and children died first, followed by the sailor a day later.
They suspect the sailor killed his family and then took his own life.
Investigators believe he may have cleaned the home and erased information from mobile phones.
The family’s bodies had been dead long enough to help police estimate when they died.
Police are examining depression and family money and property disputes as possible reasons.
Cyber experts are trying to recover deleted phone data to understand what happened.
Police suspect Indian Navy sailor Purnamal Mehra killed his wife and two children before dying by suicide.
The bodies were discovered Saturday in the family’s Navy Nagar quarters after neighbors broke open the locked residence.
Investigators believe the wife and children died at least 24 hours before Mehra.
Police say Mehra may have washed the house, cleared garbage, and formatted two mobile phones to erase evidence.
Depression, monetary and property disputes, and recovered digital data are central to the investigation.
- Who
- Indian Navy sailor Purnamal Mehra, his wife Oma, and their two children died.
- What
- Police suspect Mehra killed his family and later died by suicide.
- When
- The bodies were found on Saturday; police suspect the wife and children died at least 24 hours earlier.
- Where
- The deaths occurred in the family’s Navy Nagar quarters in Mumbai.
- Why
- Police are investigating depression, monetary and property disputes, and digital evidence as possible explanations.
- Suspected victims
- Mehra’s wife and two children, aged three years and two months.
- Discovery
- Neighbors broke open the residence after calls went unanswered; the door was locked from inside.
- Police theory
- Investigators suspect the wife and children were killed before Mehra died by suicide.
- Possible methods
- Preliminary findings suggest the infant was strangled with a pillow, while the wife and older child were poisoned.
- Digital evidence
- Cyber experts are attempting to recover data from formatted mobile phones belonging to Mehra and his wife.
- Initial legal action
- Police first registered an Accidental Death Report and plan to file an FIR after the final post-mortem report.
- Investigation progress
- Statements from eight people have been recorded.