According to the police, the family members consumed a poisonous substance.
Nine members of a family of two brothers were found dead in Maharashtra's Sangli district on Monday, police said they suspect it to be a case of a suicide pact, while a preliminary probe suggests the brothers had heavily borrowed money from different people.
The bodies were found in two different houses of the brothers, located 1.5 Km apart, in Mhaisal village in Maharashtra, over 350 Km from Mumbai.
The police said the victims included two brothers - Popat Vanmore (56), Dr Manik Vanmore - their mother, wives, and four children and it is suspected they might have consumed poisonous substances to end their lives.
While Popat Vanmore was a teacher, Manik Vanmore worked as a veterinary doctor, they said.
"Prima facie, it looks that the family members of the two brothers have ended their lives. As per information received so far, both the brothers had borrowed money from various people. We are trying to establish the sequence of events as both the spots (houses where bodies were found) are 1.5km away from each other," said Manoj Kumar Lohiya, Inspector General (Kolhapur range).
The police said the incident came to light when a girl from the village had gone to Manik Vanmore's house to find out why nobody had come to fetch milk from them as it was a daily routine, and found the bodies.
The police said six bodies were found in Manik Vanmore's house - his own, those of his wife, mother, daughter, son, and nephew (son of Popat Vanmore), while Popat Vanmore, his wife, and daughter's bodies were found in the latter's residence.
Inspector General Lohiya said the police found suicide notes from both the locations and they are analysing them.
"Though it looks like a suicide pact, we are investigating the case from all angles as it is a serious incident," the senior police officer said.
He said as per primary information, a poisonous substance was consumed by the family members, but only a detailed investigation and postmortem report will throw light on the exact cause of the death.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)