Gujarat: Four of family killed in their sleep

In a gruesome incident, four members of a family -- including three children -- were killed while they were sleeping in Kuda village of Gujarat's Banaskantha district on Friday morning. Their throats were slit.

At first, the police suspected the crime to be a family suicide pact, made in a desperate bid to escape overwhelming debt.

The deceased has been identified as the mother Anvi Patel, her eldest son Uka, daughter Bhavna and youngest child Suresh. The father Karsan Patel was found unconscious inside the house with several injuries on his head. He is undergoing treatment at Palanpur civil hospital.

The incident came into light early on Friday morning. At around 7 am, the neighbours found Anvi and the children lying in a pool of blood, while Karsan lay unconscious outside. They contacted Avni's brother, Teja Chaudhari, who lives close-by, who told the police. The 60-year-old farmer said the family had moved to the village one year ago.

Initally, the police suspected that Karsan murdered his family members, before consuming poison himself to escape harassment by money lenders. They based the theory on the few names found scribbled on the walls of the family's home; there were also some words indicating a pending debt of Rs 21 lakh.

When the community found out that the police suspected the father of murder, more thousand people gathered outside the hospital in protest. The family also refused to take the bodies of the slain members to perform last rites, until the culprits were nabbed.

Relatives say Karsan is illiterate and thus could not be responsible for the scribbles. Besides, he sustained several injuries to the head, a clear indication that someone had attacked the family.

The Agartala police have lodged a case under IPC sections 302, 307, 325 and 452 against an unidentified assailant. "So far, we haven't found any signs of intrusion into the house," said DB Vaghela, Inspector General (Bhuj). "We will know more after the forensic and analytical team process the evidence collected from the crime scene. Karsan will also be able to tell us more once he gains consciousness."

Police also detained four people from the village.