The deaths have left the couple’s relatives in Kerala shocked. Family members said they were unaware of any marital discord and described Aslam and Farhana as being close to each other.
Faisal, Farhana’s brother, said the families had not known of any serious problems between the couple.
“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,” he said.
Relatives also said Aslam had been undergoing treatment for depression for around one-and-a-half years. They said he had been taking medication and attending therapy, but neither he nor Farhana had discussed difficulties that might have indicated the seriousness of their situation.
Faisal said the family suspected that pressure at work could have played a role, although they had no confirmation.
“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.
The alleged role of work pressure remains a family suspicion, not an established finding of the police investigation.
From Bengaluru to Gurugram
Aslam, a native of Kozhikode in Kerala, had joined an Indonesia-based IT company with an office in Gurugram’s Sector 58. He graduated in electrical and electronics engineering from the National Institute of Technology (NIT), Calicut, in 2018 and completed his MBA from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Indore, in 2020.
Farhana, who hailed from Malappuram district, worked from home for an IT firm based in Bengaluru. She had completed her BTech from MES College of Engineering in Kuttippuram, Kerala.
The couple moved to Gurugram around three months before the incident, after living in Bengaluru for approximately two years.
Another relative, Abdul Azeez, reportedly said the family believed the incident might have occurred around midnight. Farhana was due to celebrate her birthday on Wednesday.
“Her parents have been left shattered. We just want to take their bodies home,” he said.
Police continue to examine the recovered material and await the medical findings to establish what happened in the apartment. For the two families, the immediate concern remains bringing the couple’s bodies home and understanding a tragedy they say they had no reason to anticipate.
(Suicide is never a solution. Seek help from mental-health professionals. If you ever experience such thoughts, please call the ‘DISHA’ helpline. Toll-free helpline numbers: 1056, 0471-2552056)