Panchkula suicide horror: Fresh leads emerge - Years of debt, YouTube scheme, failed ventures

Panchkula suicide

A failing business, mounting debts and a last-ditch gamble on YouTube fame - these are the grim threads emerging in the investigation into the shocking mass suicide of a Panchkula family this week. Police now believe Parveen Mittal, who allegedly poisoned himself along with six family members including three children on Monday, had been spiralling deeper into financial ruin for years before the tragedy, according to a report by The Tribune.

Fresh details reveal Mittal’s desperate attempts to stay afloat - from collapsed ventures to an unorthodox YouTube scheme that promised easy money to contributors. As authorities piece together the family’s final hours, a clearer picture is forming of the pressures that may have pushed them to the edge.

The Tribune quoted that police sources revealed his scrap-processing plant in Baddi and travel ventures in Dehradun had collapsed, leaving him owing crores. In a last attempt to recover financially, Mittal launched a YouTube channel, Aggarwal Associates Official, in 2022. The channel, which had 1.14K subscribers, promised earnings of up to Rs 13,500 per month for contributors who sent in videos. His final upload on May 14 filmed inside the same car where the family later died outlined a payment scheme: Rs 50 to Rs 100 for long videos and Rs 10 to Rs 100 for shorts, with "plans" requiring advance payments of up to Rs 10,000.

Initially, the channel featured charity work and family moments, including clips of his twin daughters and ailing mother. But after a year-long silence, Mittal abruptly resumed posting in May, raising suspicions that the venture was a doomed effort to offset debts. Police are now examining whether the scheme misled contributors.

CCTV footage and call records show the family parked in Sector 27 around 6.45 pm on Monday. A towel draped over the rear windshield was likely used to conceal their actions from passersby. Investigators found household items in their car, suggesting they ate home-cooked food before consuming poison, though it’s unclear if it was mixed with food or water, as per The Tribune.

Earlier, they had checked into Ambedkar Bhawan in Sector 12, leaving by 6.30 pm. Police dismissed earlier speculation that they attended a Hanuman Katha event in Sector 5, The Tribune added.

Praveen Mittal, 42, his wife Reena, parents Deshraj and Bimla and three children - son Hardik and twin daughters Dhruvita and Dilisha - were found unconscious in a locked Hyundai Aura car in Sector 27 late Monday night. Six died in the car, Praveen was found semi-conscious but died hours later in hospital.

According to HT, the incident has left the Saketri community and extended family in shock. Relatives, who last saw the Mittals at a wedding in Delhi in April, said they were unaware of the family’s immediate plans but knew of their financial troubles. Neighbours recalled the family’s decency and low profile, with no indication of the tragedy that would unfold.

The family, originally from Barwala in Hisar, had reportedly relocated multiple times in recent years, from Dehradun to Kharar to a rented house in Panchkula’s Saketri village, in an attempt to escape mounting debts and creditor harassment.