Melbourne:
Australian police are probing how and why the four members of an Indian-origin family died in Melbourne at their Glen Waverley house in the city's eastern outskirts.
The bodies of Nilesh Sharma, 34 his wife Pritika, 32, children Divesh, 5 and Divya, 3 were found at their Glen Waverley home when police called in to make a welfare check yesterday. Post-mortem examinations will be carried out today.
The Fijian-Indian family, which moved to Australia 15 years ago from Fiji, had lived in Glen Waverley for at least two years and appeared to have been a normal, happy couple, Australian news agency AAP reported.
Police said that the deaths are being treated as a murder-suicide with officers stressing that no suspects are being sought. The reports said that the two children were found dead in their beds in separate bedrooms and that Nilesh had allegedly hanged himself. The incident came to light when the children failed to attend the family day care centre. A cousin, contacted by the centre, alerted police, who searched the family's home on Tuesday morning. Homicide detective Senior Sergeant David Snare said: "You've got two adults and two children. It's a family unit and it's just nasty, that's all."
He indicated that the police are not looking for suspects. It was uncertain how long they had been dead, but relatives said they attended a family function last Saturday night. According to reports, the children were smothered to death. Sergeant Snare said that the police will investigate whether the couple had any relationship issues.
Investigators are also looking at a serious car accident involving the family last December.
Mr Sharma was behind the wheel when their car ran off the road in the Dandenong Ranges and struck a tree. The family narrowly escaped death as passers-by pulled them out of the wreck. According to a family member, the car exploded moments after they were rescued.