ഫ്രിസ്‌ക്കൊ: സെപ്റ്റംബര്‍ 3 ബുധനാഴ്ച വൈകീട്ട് ഫ്രിസ്‌ക്കെ വസതിയില്‍ കണ്ട മൃതദേഹങ്ങള്‍ വീടിന്റെ ഉടമസ്ഥരും ഇന്ത്യന്‍വംശജരുമായ പല്ലവി- ധവാന്‍ ദമ്പതിമാരുടെതാണെന്ന് ഫ്രിസ്‌ക്കൊ കൗണ്ടി അധികൃതര്‍ ഔദ്യോഗികമായി സ്ഥിരീകരിച്ചു.

വ്യാഴാഴ്ച പുറത്തു വിട്ട മെഡിക്കല്‍ എക്‌സാമിനരുടെ സ്റ്റേറ്റ്‌മെന്റില്‍ സുമിറ്റ് ധവാന്‍(43), പല്ലവി ധവാന്‍(39) ദമ്പതിമാരാണ് മരിച്ചതെന്ന് പറയുന്നുണെങ്കിലും, മരണകാരണം എന്താണെന്ന് ഇതുവരെ പുറത്തുവിട്ടിട്ടില്ല.

ധവാന്റെ സഹോദരനും, സുഹൃത്തും ബുധനാഴ്ച വീട്ടില്‍ സന്ദര്‍ശനത്തിനെത്തിയതായിരുന്നു. ഇവരാണ് മൃതദേഹത്തെ കുറിച്ചുള്ള വിവരം പോലീസിനെ അറിയിച്ചത്.

ജനുവരിയില്‍ 10 വയസ്സുള്ള മകന്‍ ആര്‍നേവിന്റെ മൃതദേഹം ബാത്ത്ടബില്‍ ഐസില്‍ പൊതിഞ്ഞ നിലയില്‍ കണ്ടെത്തിയതിനെ തുടര്‍ന്ന് പോലീസ് പല്ലവിയെ  ചോദ്യം ചെയ്തിരുന്നു. കുട്ടിയെ കൊലപ്പെടുത്തിയതാണോ എന്ന പോലീസിന്റെ ചോദ്യത്തിന് തല ആട്ടിയതാണ് മാതാവ് പല്ലവിയെ ഈ കേസ്സില്‍ പ്രതിയാക്കാന്‍ പോലീസിനെ പ്രേരിപ്പിച്ചത്.

കുട്ടിയുടെ മരണം നടക്കുമ്പോള്‍ ബിസിനസ് ട്രിപ്പില്‍ ഇന്ത്യയിലായിരുന്ന ഭര്‍ത്താവ് മടങ്ങി വന്നതിനുശേഷമാണ് പോലീസില്‍ വിവരമറിയിച്ചത്. ധവാനും, കുടുംബാംഗങ്ങളും, പല്ലവിയെ ഈ കേസ്സില്‍ ഒരിക്കലും പ്രതിയായി കണ്ടിരുന്നില്ല. സ്വാഭാവിക മരണമാണെന്നാണ് എല്ലാവരും വിശ്വസിക്കുന്നത്. ദമ്പതിമാരുടെ ആകസ്മിക മരണം ഡാളസ് ഫോര്‍ട്ട് വര്‍ത്ത് മെട്രോപ്ലെക്‌സിലെ ഇന്ത്യന്‍ കമ്മ്യൂണിറ്റിയെ ദുഃഖത്തിലാക്കി.

FRISCO — Why? That's the question on everybody's minds.

FRISCO — Why? That's the question on everybody's minds.

Why did 10-year-old Arnav die earlier this year?

Why are his parents, Pallavi and Sumeet Dhawan, now dead?

That question may never be answered.

‎"I have no idea what happened," said David Finn, Pallavi's attorney. "I certainly didn't see this coming, not by a long shot."

Finn had publicly pressured the Frisco Police ‎Department to either drop the murder case against Pallavi or to seek an indictment. He had repeatedly criticized them, accusing them of jumping the gun on the case.

Now, for the second time in seven months, crime scene tape surrounds the Dhawan's Frisco house. Police returned to the residence Thursday, a day after finding Pallavi's body in the pool and Sumeet's body inside.

Police identified the deceased as Sumeet and Pallavi Dhawan late Thursday afternoon, but have not said how they died. ‎Investigators were coming and going from the house all day Thursday.

In late January, their son, Arnav, was found decomposing in a bathtub. His mother had placed him in plastic bags with ice around him. The family says her action's were to preserve his body until his father came home from out of town.‎

Frisco police said they asked her if she had killed her son and that she had nodded her head, "yes."‎

‎‎Sumeet stood steadfastly by his wife, denying she confessed and saying she could never have hurt their only child.

They appeared together at a memorial in front of their house. Sobbing, they held onto one another.

A month after Arnav's death, the Collin County medical examiner ruled he died of undetermined cause, most likely due to "natural disease."

Still, Frisco police didn't back off nor did they file the case with prosecutors either.

Finn pressed for an examining trial as a way to force police to reveal what evidence they had. At the conclusion, a judge ruled that there was enough evidence to send the case to a grand jury.

Finn said he was at the Dhawan home the prior weekend, prepping Sumeet and his brother for their grand jury testimony.

"Everything seemed very, very positive," he said. "I didn't sense any hostility. Pallavi was in a good mood. Sumeet seemed to be in a good mood."

He said Sumeet testified before a grand jury last week for more than three hours. He last spoke to Pallavi on Friday. She seemed upbeat, he said.

He said she asked if the amount of time Sumeet testified was a bad or a good sign. He said he told her it was a good sign -- that it was an indication grand jurors were really listening to their side.

Finn says he sent Sumeet into the grand jury with a packet of documents, including their son's autopsy, medical records and statements of support from members of their Hindu temple.

He says he felt very confident that a grand jurors would soon clear her. The couple had hoped that Pallavi would be out from under her legal predicament so that they could travel to India later this month for a memorial for their son.

"Pallavi has no family here so this would have given her an opportunity to see them," Finn said.

But, over the weekend, Finn said he could not reach them. He wasn't concerned because it was a holiday weekend.

"If I had been concerned, I would have gotten out in my car and driven out there," he said.

On Wednesday, he received a call from Sumeet's sister who was worried that they weren't responding to phone calls or texts. He suggested that family members check on them.

Sumeet's brother, who lives a few blocks away, made the awful discovery that afternoon. He called the police.‎

Some think perhaps it all became too much -- the loss of their son, the charges against the mother and the public humiliation.

"If somebody tells you that you killed our child, can you manage it? It's just so sad," said Hershita Agrawal, an acquaintance of the couple.

Finn said the fact that the legal battle had dragged on had "weighed on them."

Now, instead of going to India for their son's memorial, their families are making preparations to send their bodies back.

Finn said he spoke with Pallavi's heartbroken mother who lives in India Thursday morning.

‎"I said, 'Look, I really got to know your daughter and she was a very kind soul,'" Finn said. "She said, "Funny, you should mention that because when they were living here there would be dogs that were malnourished and Pallavi took them in and fed them and gave them away for adoption.'"

He says Pallavi and Sumeet had become more than clients and he had planned to bring his own family to their house for dinner.

"This was family," he said.