GURGAON: An email sent to his employer at around 7am, saying “we are leaving this world”, set off a chain of events that led to the discovery of an IT professional and his wife dead in their Gurgaon apartment on Wednesday.
The techie had also shared the phone numbers of his parents and landlord, asking the company to inform them.
When the landlord reached the flat in Tower 7 of M3M Marina, he found Mohammad Aslam (30) hanging and his wife, Farhana, who was about to turn 28, lying on the floor with an injury mark on her neck. He alerted Badshapur police station.
Inside the flat, police found a note bearing the words “We are leaving this world”. The words “I love you” had also been scribbled on Farhana's clothes. Investigators are examining the messages and other material recovered from the apartment as they piece together what led to the couple’s deaths.
Police suspect Aslam killed Farhana before dying by suicide, but said the sequence of events and the cause of death had not yet been established. A murder case was registered under Section 103(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
The couple’s families, based in Kerala, have been left struggling to understand what happened. Relatives said they knew of no marital discord and described the couple as being close to each other. They said Aslam had been undergoing treatment for depression for around a year and a half.
“The couple shared a really close bond. Both were happy with each other and had no marital discord. There was no issue with the family either. But hearing this has left both families in shock,” said Faisal, Farhana’s brother.
Moved to Gurgaon three months agoThe couple had relocated to Gurgaon from Bengaluru around three months ago. Aslam, a native of Kozhikode, had joined an Indonesia-based IT company with an office in Sector 58. Farhana, who hailed from Malappuram, worked from home for an IT firm based in Bengaluru.
They married in 2023 and spent around two years in Bengaluru before moving to Gurgaon.
Aslam graduated in electrical and electronics engineering from NIT Calicut in 2018 and completed his MBA from IIM Indore in 2020. Farhana had completed her BTech from MES College of Engineering in Kuttippuram, Kerala.
Family members said Aslam had been taking medication and undergoing therapy for depression for around 18 months. They said neither he nor Farhana had discussed any problems that might have suggested they were going through a difficult period.
Faisal said relatives suspected work pressure could have contributed to the tragedy, although they had no confirmation of what the couple had been experiencing.
“We used to go on trips together, and I connected very well with my brother-in-law. We suspect that work pressure in the IT sector may have led to the incident. They never discussed anything that suggested they were suffering or going through something so bad. Work pressure is the only reason we suspect, but only God and the two of them knew what was happening,” he said.
Another relative, Abdul Azeez, said the family believed the incident may have occurred around midnight on Wednesday. Farhana was due to celebrate her birthday that day.
“Her parents have been left shattered. We just want to take their bodies home,” he said.
Email prompted colleagues to contact landlordAfter Aslam’s email arrived around 7am on Wednesday, his colleagues contacted the landlord using the details provided. The landlord went to the apartment, found the couple dead and alerted the police.
An emergency response vehicle reached the spot around 8am, followed by a larger police team. An officer said the flat’s door was not bolted.
Police recovered three laptops, two mobile phones, a rope, the note, a diary, scissors and a pen drive from the apartment. The electronic devices were seized for forensic analysis. Police said the note contained no allegations against anyone.
Both bodies were shifted to a mortuary and identified by family members on Friday. Autopsies were yet to be conducted.
“The cause of death will be established only after the autopsy report. It is suspected that the husband killed his wife and later died by suicide after sending an email to his office,” the officer said.
Police are examining the evidence to establish the circumstances and sequence of the deaths.