RANCHI: In a sensational incident, six members of a family were found dead in their apartment in Hazaribag town in Jharkhand early on Sunday.Mahavir Prasad Maheshwari (70), his wife Kiran (65), their son Naresh Prasad Maheshwari (40) and his wife Kriti (38) and grandchildren children Aman (10) and Atan (8) were found dead in their apartments in a residential complex in Bodom Bazar area of the city, the police said. Mahavir owned a grocery and dry fruits business. The corpses were taken to Hazaribag district hospital for autopsy.With the images of a mass suicide of 11 members of family in Burari in New Delhi still fresh, the district police swiftly swung into action and began a probe. The preliminary findings were shared to media persons by Hazaribag SP Mayur Patel Kanhaiya Lal and DIG North Chotanagpur range Pankaj Khamboj at noon.The cops said: “The corpses of Mahavir, Kiran and Kriti were found hanging inside the apartment. Naresh apparently jumped from the flat’s balcony and was found lying near the complex’s main entrance. The children were found lying dead in a pool of blood on the floor of the apartment. Apparently, the children were made unconscious before the throats were slit.”The matter came to light when residents of the complex found Naresh’s corpse lying in front of the apartment’s main entrance. The residents then raised an alarm and called the police. The police entered Naresh’s apartment at 6am, only to find other family members dead.Primary investigations revealed that Mahavir had recently disclosed to one of his relatives that he had dues worth Rs 50 lakh and his business was incurring losses. The police said bunches of papers concerning the family’s business were confiscated for the probe.The police seized six suicide notes. “The handwriting in all the notes were same and signed by each members of the family. The undersigned suicide notes claimed that they decided to end their lives because of Aarthik Tangi ( financial distress ). We have received two signed cheques, a bottle of ether, cotton and razors from the apartments. The razors were apparently used to slit the throats of the children,” Khamboj said.The police said they would also probe all other angles, including a possible murder. However, the family’s neighbours and other residents of the apartment complex claimed they did not notice any unnatural behaviour among the family members.

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