The bodies of five members of a family, who had allegedly killed themselves, were found near Narsingi on the outskirts of Hyderabad.
While the bodies of a man and a two-year-old child were found in a parked car on the Outer Ring Road, three women were found lying in bushes nearby.
The deceased were identified as Prabhakar Reddy, his mother Lakshmi, wife Madhavi, sister Sindhuja and son Varshit. The family hailed from Ameenpur in Sangareddy district and the five people had reportedly left their house together on Monday.
According to the police, the bodies were found on Tuesday after Prabhakar Reddy’s father registered a missing persons’ complaint late on Monday.
Ravinder Reddy told the police that the family members had gone for an outing on Monday. But when they did not return till late on Monday and their mobile phones were switched off, he lodged a complaint.
The police suspect that the five people killed themselves as part of a suicide pact. The bodies were sent for an autopsy and senior police officials visited the scene.
Speaking to TNM, the Narsingi Police Inspector said that the CLUES team had collected samples from the car and the incident spot, and investigations into the case were proceeding.
“Prabhakar and the four-year-old could have died after consuming insecticide, as the car smelled of it. It looks like they have committed suicide. Preliminary investigation reveals this. We are not really sure. We can only arrive at a conclusion after the post-mortem report arrives,” he said.
The police have filed a case under Section 174 of the CrPC (death under circumstances raising reasonable suspicion). The bodies have been sent to Osmania Hospital for examination.
Speaking to the media, Ravinder Reddy said, “I went to work and called them at around 6pm, after coming back. They had said that they would come home in another half an hour. However, after they didn’t come, I called them back and no one was answering the phone.”
He denied the possibility of his family members having a rivalry with any other persons.
With IANS inputs