Forensic teams reached the crime scene and collected samples
Five members of a family, including a two-year-old child, were found murdered this morning at their home in Uttar Pradesh's Prayagraj district.
The victims of the spine-chilling incident in Khawajpur area include Ram Kumar Yadav (55), his wife Kusum Devi (52), daughter Manisha (25), daughter-in-law Savita (27) and granddaughter Minakshi (2).
Another granddaughter Sakshi (5) has survived, police said. Yadav's son Sunil (30), who was not at home at the time of the crime, is assisting in the investigation, officials added.
Senior police officer Ajay Kumar said injury marks on the bodies suggest that all five were hit on the head. The bodies have been sent for post-mortem and seven teams have been formed to look into the gruesome crime, the officer added.
Dog squads and forensic experts have also reached the spot to collect clues that can lead to the killers, police said.
District magistrate Sanjay Kumar Khatri, who rushed to the spot after the crime, said local residents had raised an alarm after they spotted a fire in Yadav's home.
"Police were initially informed that a fire had broken out. As police and fire-fighting teams reached, bodies of Yadav and the others were found in the house. The bodies of the little girl and her mother were near the room where the fire had broken out. Yadav and his wife, who was still breathing, were on a charpoy. Then their daughter's body was found," he told the media. "No angle of enmity has come to the fore so far," the district magistrate said.
Police and administrative officials faced the ire of local residents who demanded swift action in the case. Visuals showed the officials hearing them out and assuring them amid wails of relatives and neighbours mourning the deaths.
The incident comes just a week after another horrifying crime in the district. On April 16, at Khagalpur village, a 38-year-old woman Priti Tiwari and her three daughters, Mahi (12), Pihu (8) and Kuhu (3), were found dead with their throats slit. The woman's husband Rahul was found hanging dead. A suicide note found at the spot, apparently written by Rahul, accused his in-laws of mental harassment and driving him to the extreme step.