Two women and a teenage girl of the same family were found dead inside their house, while three other members were injured as their car rammed into a metro pillar in Kolkata on Wednesday, police said.
The three bodies were found in separate rooms on the third floor of the four-storey house in Tangra area, with the bodies of the two women bearing wrist injuries, a senior police officer said.
Police discovered the bodies after coming to know about the deaths from the husband of one of the deceased. He was among the three injured in the car accident, Joint Commissioner of Kolkata Police, Rupesh Kumar, told reporters after visiting the house.
The accident took place when the car collided with a metro pillar near Abhishikta crossing on EM Bypass, Kumar said.
Police were speaking to eyewitnesses to ascertain how the accident took place and were scanning CCTV footage. The eyewitnesses claimed that the car did not collide with any other vehicle and directly rammed into the pillar, Kumar said.
Commissioner of Kolkata Police Manoj Verma also visited the house. He said a teenage girl aged around 14-15 years was among the deceased.
"We have got certain clues. It is premature to conclusively say whether it was a case of murder or suicide. The body of the teenage girl did not have any major injury marks. The exact reason behind her death and the other two deaths can be ascertained only after we receive the post-mortem examination report," the CP said.
Police were investigating a claim by one of the three seriously injured in the car accident that the entire family planned to die by suicide together.
A probe was also underway into claims by neighbours that around 10 people had visited the residence of the family twice on Tuesday and whether the deaths are linked with these developments.
"During preliminary investigation, we have come to know that the family was having some financial problem. We are trying to ascertain whether today's developments are linked to it," Verma said.
The Deys were involved in tannery business and lived in the locality for decades, the local KMC councillor said.
During preliminary investigation, it was found that the two women had slit their wrists after consuming some pills mixed in their food, another police officer said.
After that, the three other family members went out in their car and the vehicle rammed into a pillar near Kavi Sukanta metro station around 4 am, he said.
The accident spot is around 6 km from their house, the officer said.
The three injured occupants of the car were Prasun Dey and Pralay Dey, besides a teenage boy. They will also be questioned upon improvement in their condition, he added.
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