Five of family found dead in Raipur; police suspect murder-suicide

Raipur, Jul 18 (PTI) In a suspected case of murder-suicide, a couple, their two minor daughters, and a son were found dead in a house in Chhattisgarh's capital Raipur, police said on Saturday. The deaths that occurred at the victims' rented house in the Sanjay Nagar locality came to light late on Friday night, an official said. Preliminary investigations suggest the man poisoned his family members before ending his life by hanging, though the exact cause of death will be confirmed following a detailed post-mortem and forensic analysis, he said. The deceased were identified as Sajid Ali alias Sajju (50), his wife Rabia Bano (45), son Irshad Ali (20), and daughters Shahida Begum (15) and Irshaba Parveen (12), he said. The house owner and neighbours alerted police after repeated phone calls to the family went unanswered and a foul smell emanated from the locked house, the official said. Police broke open the door and found the body of Sajid hanging from the ceiling, while the bodies of his wife, son, and daughters were lying on the floor, he said. The family had been living in the rented accommodation for the past eight months. Sajid had a business of buying and selling used batteries, the official said. According to a preliminary investigation, the family was last seen on Thursday evening, and the house remained locked throughout Friday, prompting another tenant in the house to contact the landlord. Senior police officers and a forensic team examined the scene late on Friday night, following which the house was sealed for further investigation. Police suspect that the man mixed a poisonous substance in the family's food before allegedly dying by suicide. However, the exact cause of death will be ascertained after the post-mortem examination and forensic analysis, police said. PTI TKP ARU