Seven members of a family, including three minor children, were found dead at their home in a village here, police said today.
Preliminary investigation indicate that two brothers Raghu Jaru (32) and Lakhu (30) along with their respective spouses Laxmi (30) and Kanku (28) committed suicide by hanging themselves after they allegedly poisoned their three children to death.
The four were found hanging from the roof of their home in Ningal village of Kutch's Anjar taluka while Lakhu's son Shaswat (4), daughter Prachi (5) and Raghu's son Shyam (7) were found unconscious on the bed by the neighbours last night, Anjar police sub-inspector U D Jadeja said.
He said all the family members went inside their house at around 7 PM and did not come out till 10 PM, which made the neighbours suspicious.
When no one responded, anxious neighbours went on the roof to peek inside the house, he said.
"Primary investigation revealed that the parents first killed their three children by giving them poison and then hanged themselves. However, we are yet to find out the reason behind their extreme act," said Jadeja, who ruled out financial crisis as the reason.
"We learnt that both Raghu and Lakhu were employed with a private firm. They recently sold a piece of land for more than Rs one crore. Thus, the family was financially well off. However, we are also investigating the angle of dispute possibly due to that land deal," he said.
Some of the neighbours claimed that the Jaru family was very religious and may have become victim of superstition.
"It is too early to arrive at a conclusion, but, we are taking into consideration every angle, including superstition. We have sent the bodies for post mortem for further probe," Jadeja added.
