Dubai:
The bodies of a debt-ridden south Indian film producer, his wife and daughter were cremated in Sharjah, nearly a month after they were found dead under mysterious circumstances in their flat in Dubai.
The partially decomposed bodies of Kerala-based Santhosh Kumar, his wife Manju and nine-year-old daughter Gouri were found in their flat near NMC Hospital on July 15. The bodies were finally consigned to flames on Saturday in the presence of friends and relatives.
Dubai police had ruled out any foul play in the mysterious deaths believed to be a case of murder-cum-suicide pact, a step taken by the family due to their financial woes.
Mr Kumar's trading business in Dubai suffered losses and a case was filed against him after employees were not paid for over a year.
"There were outstanding bills to the tune of Dh 400,000 (over Rs 66 lakh) to be paid to maintenance and decoration companies. Added to that huge debts which were not known to employees as Mr Kumar had taken to borrowing from friends and relatives. No one has any idea how much he borrowed but the sum was easily close to one million," an associate was quoted as saying by Gulf News.
The investigations however took nearly a month for the case to be cleared, the paper said.
Mr Kumar owned a film production company Souparnika Films and was a co-producer of the hit Malayalam movie 'Madambi'.