Four members of a family were found dead under suspicious circumstances on Friday, in a house in Ravalli mandal of Wanaparthy in the state of Telangana. The bodies of a woman, her daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter were found lying in different parts of their house. While the women were found in three different places inside the house, the man was found on the backside of the house. A packet consisting of lemons were found beside the body.
The deceased were identified as Ajmeera Bee (63), her daughter Asma Begum (35), son-in-law Khawaja Pasha (42) and granddaughter Haseena (10).
As nobody had come out of the house in the morning, suspecting something was wrong, neighbours went in only to find all the family members lying dead. They immediately alerted the police and then the bodies were shifted for autopsy after the investigations began.
Speaking to TNM, Wanaparthy district SP Apoorva Rao said, “The four bodies were found in different parts of the house. Neither injuries nor resistance marks were found on the bodies. Frothing was observed in all four bodies. Prima facie it looks like they had consumed some poison. The son-in-law was found beside a 1-foot-deep pit and there were lemons found inside the pit. Lemons and coconuts were also found inside the house. We are looking into all angles including a superstition angle.”
The relatives of the family have told the police that Khawaja Pasha would often dig pits around the house in search of treasure. This might explain why his body was found beside a pit on the rear side of the house.
The Police are suspecting if the family drank poison hoping to find the treasure that Khawaja has been in search for. Practice of black magic is common in some rural pockets of Telangana.
The police said that a case of suspicious death under section 174 in the code of criminal procedure would be registered and that probe would continue.