Four siblings bludgeoned to death at UP home, mother found dead in drain

PTI reported Superintendent of Police Prachi Singh as saying on Sunday that they located the woman’s body in the drain with the help of CCTV footage while they were searching for her. Her husband confirmed her identity after they sent him a photograph of her face, she said. The drain is about 300 metres from their house.

The woman’s body has been sent for post-mortem to ascertain the exact cause of the death, the SP told PTI, while not ruling out suicide, murder or foul play. The SP clarified to PTI that contrary to some speculation, her body was not found inside a sack.

During preliminary investigation, police had earlier found that the kids’ father had called his brother to check in on his family after repeated phone calls went unanswered on Saturday. The brother then found the house locked from the inside. He then called the police in the afternoon, who scaled the boundary wall to enter the house and found the dead bodies inside.

It is suspected that the woman died by jumping into the drain after killing her children. A murder case was earlier registered against Ghasia Khatoon at the Akbarpur police station.

The police also interviewed the woman’s family members and assessed whether any other person was involved in the incident.

Meanwhile, a pall of gloom descended on Kasda village in the Mahrua area on Sunday as the bodies of the four children reached their relatives’ home after the post-mortem.

A large number of people, including grieving family members, neighbours and other residents, gathered for the last rites. The children were later buried in the villagegraveyard. — With inputs from PTI