Four children among six of family found hanging in flat in Gujarat`s Ahmedabad

Ahmedabad: Six members of a family, including four children in the age group of seven to 12, were found hanging from the ceiling of an unoccupied flat in Ahmedabad city of Gujarat early on Friday, police said.

Bodies of two brothers- Amrish Patel (42) and Gaurang Patel (40)- and their four children were found hanging in the family-owned empty flat in Vatva GIDC locality in the early hours, inspector D R Gohil of Vatva GTDC Police Station said.

According to him, the Patel brothers lived in different localities of the city. "On June 17, they left their homes with the children, after informing their wives that they were going for an outing," the official said.

"When they failed to return till Thursday night, their wives went to the unoccupied flat. However, they found it locked from inside, following which they approached the police around midnight," he said.

It is suspected that the two men might have given food laced with sedatives to the children and killed them before hanging themselves from the ceiling, the official said.

The police found the bodies of the two men in the drawing room, two girls - Kirti (9) and Sanvi (7) - in the kitchen and two 12-year-old boys- Mayur and Dhruv- in the bedroom. All of them were found hanging from the ceiling, he said.

The bodies of the deceased have been sent for post- mortem and further probe was underway, he added.