5 of a family found dead in Lakhisarai

PATNA: A couple and their three minor children were found dead in their house at village Laxmipur under the Manikpur police station area in Lakhisarai district, around 155km from Patna, on Monday. The deceased were identified as Pankaj Mahto (35), his wife Archana Devi (30), Priyanshu Kumari (6), Prince Kumar (4) and Vicky Kumar (3).
“Prima facie it seems that Pankaj committed suicide by hanging himself after killing his wife and three children,” Lakhisarai SP Kartikeya Sharma said.However, police were investigating the case from all angles and waiting for the postmortem report.
Manikpur SHO Deepak Kumar said the villagers had informed the police about the incident. “Pankaj’s body was found hanging with a nylon rope from a wooden shaft of the ceiling while the three children were lying on the bed in the same room. Archana’s body was found lying in a small water body in the courtyard of the house. Strangulation marks were found on the necks of Archana and the three children,” he said.
Pankaj worked somewhere outside Bihar and had returned home only four days back, he added.
The SHO said the villagers told the police that Pankaj and Archana used to quarrel frequently. “However, it was yet not known if they quarrelled over financial problems or any other dispute,” he said and added, “Pankaj’s mother Phulwati Devi (65) lives in a separate house in the same village. She was in a state of shock and police could not ask her anything immediately.”