5 of family found hanging at home in Madhya Pradesh; police suspect suicide

Tikamgarh, August 23

A retired government employee, his wife and three other family members, including a four-year-old child, were found hanging at their home in Madhya Pradesh’s Tikamgarh district on Sunday, police said.

Police said initial investigation suggested the family members committed suicide but no note was recovered from the spot.

Some neighbours of the victims, who lived in Khargapur town, about 35 km from the district headquarters, alerted the police after they did not see anyone coming out of the house in the morning, Superintendent of Police Prashant Khare said.

The police later reached the spot and got opened the door which was bolted from inside.

They found Dharamdas Soni (62), a retired state government employee, his wife Poona (55), their son Manohar (27) and daughter-in-law Sonam (25) hanging from a ceiling, and a four-year-old grandson hanging from a window grill, police said.

Soni, his wife, daughter-in-law and the grandson were found dead in one room while his son Manohar was found hanging in another room of the house, the official said.

Khare said the initial investigation suggests it to be a case of “mass suicide”. He, however, added that no suicide note had been recovered.

The bodies were sent for post-mortem and a probe was underway in the case from all angles, he said.

Khargapur area police inspector Sunil Sharma said according to the initial investigation, Soni, who retired from the state’s veterinary services, recently sold two acres of land and his son Manohar wanted money from him to buy a shop to earn his livelihood.

Soni was averse to his son’s idea following which their relationship turned sour, he said.

A detailed investigation was on in the case, he added.

On getting information about the incident, Collector Subhash Dwivedi and Khare reached the spot. PTI