Mysuru city police launched an investigation after they found four members of the same family dead inside their rented home at Chamundipuram on Sunday afternoon in Karnataka. The deceased were identified as Mahadevaswamy (45), his wife Anita (38), and daughters Chandrakala (17) and Dhanalakshmi (15). Officials said they suspect it to be a case of a suicide pact. Mahadevaswamy had a vegetable shop at Bandipalya in the area. Notably, neighbours said they noticed that the door was not opened for the past two days and reported the matter to the police after they grew suspicious, reported news agency PTI.
A police officer was quoted as saying by PTI: "The front door was bolted from inside. So we opened the door at the rear and found them dead. Among the four, one was found hanging, which appears to be the elder daughter.” He also said that three others in the house died sitting on the floor.
Police also said the owner of the building stays on the first floor while the victim's family lived as tenants for the last two months on the ground floor.
Meanwhile, in a similar incident of a suicide case, a 40-year-old Non-Resident Indian (NRI) woman hailing from Karnataka's Dharwad, Priyadarshini Lingaraj Patil, ended her own life by jumping into the Malaprabha river near Saundatti in Belagavi district on August 20, news agency IANS reported citing police officials last Friday.
In a suicide note, Priyadarshini accused Australian authorities and residents of a locality in Sydney of harassing her family. The note sheds light on her family's legal battle regarding the custody of her children and the distressing circumstances that pushed her to this step.
As per the report, Priyadarshini, who had recently arrived in Bengaluru from Australia, made her way to Hubballi and subsequently Belagavi by bus. The cause behind her suicide, as detailed in the note addressed to her father, revolves around the custody of her children.
Her son Amartya's health issues prompted her to seek medical attention, and when his condition worsened due to alleged side effects of the treatment, she filed a complaint against the hospital, the report said.
Priyadarshini claimed that the authorities accused her of being incapable of caring for her children, leading to the government taking custody of them. Despite her efforts to regain custody, she was unsuccessful, it said.