5 Of Family Found Hanging At Home In Assam's Kokrajhar

Five members of a family allegedly committed suicide in Assam's Kokrajhar district on Monday, probably because of financial hardship, police said.

Their bodies were found hanging from the ceiling of their house in Tulsibil town along the Assam-West Bengal border, a senior police officer said.

The victims were identified as Nirmal Pal (45), his wife Mallika (40) and their daughters Puja (25), Neha (17) and Dipa (15), Superintendent of Police Rakesh Raushan said.

"Prima facie, it appears to be a suicide case. Preliminary investigation has found that Nirmal Pal, who ran an LPG outlet in Tulsibil market, had a financial burden of Rs 25-30 lakh. His eldest daughter was a private school teacher," he said.

A suicide note was also found but its contents are not immediately known, the officer said.

A trader in the market claimed Pal had collected a huge sum of money from people to provide LPG connections through his sub-agency but failed to deliver on his promise due to the lockdown and the change of rules by oil firms.

The Kokrajhar unit of the All Assam Bangali Yuba Chatra Federation, however, doubted "conspiracy" behind the alleged suicide and demanded a "proper probe" into the incident.

As soon as the incident came to light, owners of all shops and commercial establishments at Tulsibil town downed their shutters.