Kanpur, March 12 Three members of a family – a woman, her son, and her brother-in-law – were found dead inside a locked room of their house in Fatehpur district, Uttar Pradesh, police said on Thursday.
Preliminary investigation pointed to a possible suicide pact due to financial distress, they said.
The incident occurred in Chaupheerwa village in the Sadar Kotwali area on Wednesday night. The deceased were identified as Sushila Srivastava, 51, her son Amar Srivastava, 28, and her brother-in-law Sunil alias Guddu Srivastava, 52.
Police said all three had deep wounds on their necks and had slit their wrists. Three empty pouches of aluminium phosphide, commonly known as sulphas, and four blood-stained blades were recovered from the room.
According to police, Sushila's husband, Sushil Kumar Srivastava, 55, a driver by profession, had gone to his daughter's house earlier in the day.
When he returned in the evening and received no response despite repeated calls, he broke open the door with the help of neighbours and found his wife and son lying in pools of blood, while his younger brother Sunil was critically injured. Sunil was rushed to the district hospital, where doctors declared him brought dead.
Senior police officers, including Additional Director General of Police (Prayagraj Zone) Jyoti Narayan and Inspector General Ajay Kumar Mishra, visited the spot and supervised the investigation.
The ADG said preliminary findings suggested suicide, as blades were found at the scene, the door was locked from inside, and empty sulphas packets, along with traces of poison in glasses, were recovered from the room, while there were no signs of struggle.
Police suspect the trio may have first consumed sulphas and later cut their wrists and necks with blades. A note recovered from the scene, allegedly written by Amar, refers to severe financial distress and names three people whom he blamed for the suicides, officials said.
Additional Superintendent of Police Mahendra Pal Singh said injuries consistent with blade cuts were found on the necks and wrists of all three victims.
Police sources said Amar had reportedly accumulated debts of nearly Rs 50 lakh. He earlier sold his house to repay loans and had recently been borrowing small amounts from acquaintances and relatives.
"The exact sequence of events will be clear after the post-mortem and forensic reports. We are also verifying the allegations mentioned in the suicide note," the ADG said.
