Man hacks mother, wife & two daughters to death; surrenders

Pune: A 45-year-old man allegedly hacked his mother, wife and two daughters to death in Sangli district of western Maharashtra in the wee hours today and later surrendered himself before police.

The deceased were identified as Sushila Irkar (60), her daughter-in-law Sindhubai Irkar (40) and Sindhubai's daughters Rupali (19) and Rani (16), all residents of a village in Jat tehsil of Sangli, police said.

"The accused, Bharat Irkar, took all four victims to their farms in the wee hours on the pretext of some work and allegedly hacked them to death with sharp weapons. He later surrendered himself at the police station," inspector attached to Jat police station, said.

"We are still investigating the motive behind the murder. However, prima facie, it seems that there was some dispute within the family," he added.

The accused has two sons-- aged 14 and 11-- the officer said, adding, "But they survived as they had gone to their relatives' place to study since there were no electricity in their house on Friday night."

Further investigation into the case is on.