FARIDABAD: Two 16-year-old boys - friends for four years - were found hanging from a tree near an ashram in Sector 44 after hours of frantic search around Sunday midnight.Police said it appeared the boys decided on a suicide pact and hung themselves from a palaash tree behind Sidhdata Ashram on the Aravali foothills. Some leftover packets of chips, ice-cream cups and water bottles were found nearby. Their scooters - on which they had left home in the afternoon - were also parked there. The Class XI students, police said, became friends at a private school in Sector 31 where they studied for three years from Class VII. One of the boys shifted to another colony in the NCR city after his father changed jobs. Both boys switched schools for their Plus 2, but would meet off and on, according to police. The families, too, shared friendly ties.The father of one of the boys said his son left home around 4pm on Sunday, saying he was going to meet his friend. A couple of hours later, the boy called up his brother to inform him that he would be back home soon."We waited till 9pm. When he didnt return home, we started to panic. We dialled his number repeatedly, but the phone kept ringing," he told TOI on Monday. "My wife called up the parents of his friend, seeking to know if our son was there. We got to know that their son, too, had left home on his scooter around the same time in the afternoon," he added. Both families reached out to the police. The phones of the two boys were traced to a location near the ashram. When a police team reached the spot, they found the two boys hanging from the tree. "By the time we reached there, it was 2am. The boys had used the same plastic rope to hang themselves, one on either side of a branch. Their bodies were brought down and sent for an autopsy," said Vivek, the investigative officer in the case."Their phones and wallets were with them. The chips and ice-cream cups suggest they had been sitting there for some time. It seems they stood on one of the scooters, tied the noose around their necks and kicked the two-wheeler to hang themselves. We are investigating all possible reasons for their decision. As of now, it appears to be a suicide pact," said Sube Singh, the police PRO.Another officer said there didnt seem to be a dispute between the families. "There is a possibility that the two took the step because of societal pressure to part ways," he added.The bodies were handed over to the families on Monday morning. "We dont suspect anyone. But we want an inquiry into the deaths of our children," said the father of one of the boys. A case was lodged at Surajkund police station under Section 174 CrPC, which allows police to prepare an inquest report.

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