5 of a family including 3 kids hacked to death in Ayodhya village

Five of a family including a couple and their three children (all below 10 years) were brutally hacked to death over a property issue in an Ayodhya village on Saturday midnight, senior police officials said on Sunday morning. They said the couple’s nephew, who stayed with them, was the key suspect as he was found missing from the house after the incident.

Ayodhya senior superintendent of police (SSP) Shailesh Pandey said the incident took place at Baria Nisaru village under Inayatnagar police station limits at around 12.30 am on Sunday. He said it seemed all the victims were attacked with a heavy and blunt object while they were sleeping.

He said the victims included Rakesh Kumar, his wife and their three kids including two sons and a daughter. He said the key suspect Pawan, who is Rakesh’s elder sister’s son, also stayed with the family for the past few years and had an eye on his maternal uncle’s property.

Pandey said the local villagers reported that Pawan used to argue with Rakesh’s wife demanding his alleged share in the property.

He said the police suspect that Pawan had help from some people in executing the crime. He said five teams were constituted and raids were being carried out for Pawan’s arrest while a forensic team had collected samples from the crime scene.