BETUL (MP): Fearing that he had contracted HIV, a 39-year-old IITian set his wife and kids ablaze in a car before attempting to kill himself at Betul in Madhya Pradesh on March 4. Now it turns out he doesn’t have the virus.

Refusing to believe his suicide-pact story, police sent his blood samples for tests. “We got the reports on Thursday. The samples tested negative,” said SHO S K Singh.

“I used to visit Delhi’s red light areas. Six months ago, I had an ulcer in my mouth and it became a recurring problem. I got scared and Googled for AIDS symptoms. The results matched my conditions, especially weight loss,” Praveen Manwar told TOI. He then went to a lab in Chhatarpur for a blood test. The reports showed he was HIV positive . “ I was shattered by the results,” he said.

Manwar claimed he then discussed the matter with his wife. “She was sad, fought with me for two days, but then consoled me and said it was okay."

Manwar said the initial plan was to commit suicide alone. “She did not agree to that. She and our younger daughter also showed signs of HIV. She said children cannot be left to fend for themselves.”

The family went to Amravati on February 28, where the couple thought of killing the children first and then hanging themselves. “But who would hang the children? None of us could do that. I searched on Google for painless ways for committing suicide/easily available poisons. I could not find a better solution and planned to immolate the family."

Manwar said he drove to Betul on March 4 and with wife Shilpa and daughters, Sharvani, 9, and Praneeti, 2, inside he doused the car with petrol. “I entered the car and rolled it down a gorge. It hit a tree and overturned. I gained conscious after sometime. I came out of a broken window and set the car on fire," he said.

He said his younger daughter screamed and held onto his wife, but he could not muster courage to get into the burning car. “I made four futile suicide attempts before I went to Amrawati and narrated the ordeal to a friend, who advised me to surrender."

Manwar said he loved his family but social stigma prompted him kill his wife and children. “I would not live long. Today or tomorrow, I will also commit suicide."

He did not show any emotion when he was told he was HIV negative. Police have booked him for murder and destruction of evidence.

