The murder of 7-year old Hasini from Chennai had set across shock waves. Hasini, a resident of Madha Nagar, Mugalivakkam, went missing from her apartment complex. She was later found dead near Mangadu and her body has been recovered by the Police. She was alone in her apartment when her parents went shopping.
After noticing her disappearance, the parents searched the locality and finally, her father Babu lodged a police complaint.She was then found burnt, after which it was confirmed that her neighbor Dhashvanth had sexually assaulted her, killed her and burnt her body. Since then, the family moved to Andhra as they received threats from the accused Dhashvanth.
In a chilling revelation, double-murder accused Dhasvanth has reportedly confessed to killing his mother and told police that he had planned to murder his father too, as per a report in The Times of India. He reportedly made the confession a day after he was brought to Chennai from Mumbai.
However, one most guilty about the entire situation was Dhasvanth’s 51-year-old father Sekhar who hired a senior lawyer to bail him out “of love”.
The father of two has now finally broken his silence, and told The News Minute, “It (bailing him out) was the biggest mistake I had ever made in my life. And it has cost me my wife of 24 years.”
Upset at not getting money from his parents, Sarala and Sekhar, Dhasvanth told police that he had decided a few weeks ago to kill them. He was also angry with his parents because they constantly scolded him, a police officer told TOI.
“I am 100% sure that Dhasvanth killed my wife. And if he can kill his own mother, I am sure he would have killed that child too,” he says, staring at the wall in front of him with no emotion in his voice. “In fact, I suspected he killed Hasini in July itself,” he admits.
“We got a call from him and he said that he was helping the neighbors search for their daughter and asked whether we had seen her,” says Sekhar. “I said no I hadn’t and kept the phone down. I didn’t think anything of it then. We came back home that night at around 10 pm and then he came later at 11.30pm. He even went to work the next day,” he explains.
But a day later, the police arrived at their home to arrest Dhasvanth. “I initially panicked and I didn’t understand why they were taking him,” says the father. “The police showed me the CCTV footage of him carrying a big bag but he kept telling me, ‘I didn’t do it, daddy’. I wanted to believe him,” he adds.
“After advocate, Vijaykumar spoke to him, I realized that if he had killed the child, he was going to go to jail anyway. So, I didn’t see the harm in him coming out for a couple of months, before being convicted,” reasons the 51-year-old unabashedly.
But perhaps, unconvinced by this ‘explanation’ himself, he adds, “Dhasvanth would cry when his grandfather and I visited him and it broke my heart. Only if you are in my position you will understand how it feels to see a son you love in jail. I thought he will change. Yes, he had made a mistake. But I thought we could change things from there on.”
“The warning signs to indicate that something was wrong with him became apparent over a year-and-a-half ago but everything we tried to do to help him failed,” Sekhar confesses.
However, the father also admits that it was Dhasvanth’s past that made him do all the deeds:
The accused’s family shift houses during his childhood as all schools would expel him due to his misbehavior. Once his father slapped him so hard fell on the floor and started to bleed.
“At that point, all my relatives said I should not hit him. He got an epileptic attack when he fell,” says the father. “Since then, I have never punished him for anything,” admits Sekhar.
In December last year, Sekhar and his family first stepped into a police station because of Dhasvanth. “He was in love with a girl who was in the 12th standard and her parents complained to the police,” says the father. Was Dhasvanth stalking her? “No, no, it was mutual. Police just warned both of them,” he claims.
“He had a fight with that boy and brought home his bike,” Sekhar defends. “They solved it within themselves,” he adds.
Instead of admonishing his son for his behaviour, Sekhar admits, he bought him a new bike. “I gave him too much love instead of punishing him,” he says. “But I treated both my sons the same way. The other one has turned out fine.” His younger son, who is 21 years old is studying in a different district.
After he got the new bike, however, Dhasvanth met with multiple accidents due to over-speeding. “We realised that he was not all right. He became more and more withdrawn. So, we took him to a psychiatrist,” claims Sekhar. “They gave him some pills and told him to come for counselling. He wouldn’t eat the pills or go for the sessions. He refused to listen to anything we said,” he adds.
So, did he blame Dhasvanth’s behaviour on his mental health?
“His addiction to betting on horse races is the root cause of these problems,” says Sekhar.
“I initially did not want him to join but he refused to listen. A lot of my relatives work there, so I told them to keep an eye on him,” says Sekhar. Soon enough, Dhasvanth began betting on horses and eventually losing money. “His greed began to increase and he wanted to make quick money. He was earning Rs. 30,000 a month, working for a company in Mylapore and perhaps spending his money on betting,” he adds.
“He took advantage of my inability to say anything to him,” says Sekhar. “My love for him is the reason for all my pain,” he says.