Four members of a family were found burnt to death in a car near Malkajgiri town on the outskirts of Hyderabad on Tuesday morning.

At around 0630 IST, some persons found a smouldering Maruti car at Uppariguda near the track close to the Malkajgiri railway station. On being alerted, police rushed to the spot and found three charred bodies on the rear seat of the car. Another body was found in the dickey.

The victims were identified as Baldev Raj Seth (48), his wife Prabha (42), daughter Kanika (13) and son Rishab (8). Baldev was working as chief engineer (railway tracks) in the South Central Railways.

The police said that Minal (19), who is doing a course at National Institute of Fashion Technology in New Delhi, called up Baldev, her father, on his cell phone as well as on the landline but got no response. She got panicky and called up the neighbours who, in turn, informed the police that the family was missing. It was too late by the time the police located the family.

The police booked a case of suspected murder. They did not rule out the hand of some disgruntled railway contractors. They also interrogated the family's domestic help.

The chief minister, Home Minister T Devender Goud and senior police officers, including Director-General of Police Pervaram Ramulu and Cyberabad Police Commissioner Mahender Reddy, visited the spot in the afternoon. Additional Director-General of Police M L Kumawat said the case had been transferred to the Criminal Investigation Department.