A 30-year-old woman, her two children and her 55-year-old mother-in-law allegedly committed suicide by jumping into a dam in Palanpur in Gujarat's Banaskantha district, a police official said on Sunday.
The incident took place on Saturday evening and the women may have ended their lives due to alleged harassment at the hands of their respective husbands, the official added.
"As per initial probe, Nayna Chauhan and her mother-in-law Kanuba Chauhan took this extreme step due to the constant torture and ill-treatment by their respective husbands Naransinh and Gensinh Chauhan," Inspector AV Desai of Palanpur police station said.
"Based on a complaint by Nayna's brother Pravinsinh Vaghela, an FIR for abetment of suicide, assault and other offences was lodged against Naransinh and Gensinh, who has been arrested. Naransinh is on the run," he said.
Nayna, her daughter Sapna (8) and son Viram (5) as well as Kanuba left their home in Nani Bhatamal village on Saturday morning without informing anyone.
When they did not return home till evening, their relatives mounted a search and later found their footwear near the boundary wall of the Dantiwada reservoir near the village, after which local divers and police fished out the bodies.
"Narasinh and Gensinh would thrash Nayna, and Kanuba used to get assaulted when she took the side of her daughter-in-law," Mr Desai said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
