The police suspect that the family could have taken the extreme step in 2019 and no one noticed as they remained socially detached.
Published Dec 31, 2023 | 9:00 AM ⚊ Updated Dec 31, 2023 | 9:00 AM
The house in Chitradurga where the skeletons of five of a family were found. (Supplied)
The Chitradurga district police are currently grappling with the mysterious and distressing case of the unnatural deaths of five members of a family. The investigation was prompted by a local social media channel’s broadcast of visuals depicting skeletons found inside a locked yet ransacked house, a chilling discovery that quickly went viral.
The house, located on Jail Road near Challakere Circle in Chitradurga town, has been locked for a long time, since 2019. The family residing in the house was socially detached from everyone, including close relatives, the jurisdictional Badavane Extension Police told South First.
The house belonged to Jagannath Reddy (85), a retired government executive engineer with the Public Works Department (PWD), who lived with his wife Prema (80), their daughter Triveni (62), and two sons Krishna (60) and Narendra (57), the police stated.
It is suspected that the skeletal remains found inside the house are of the aforementioned family members, who may have all died as a result of a suicide pact, the police said.
Additionally, the skeleton of a dog was found inside the house, leading the police to suspect that the family members might have consumed poison mixed with their food.
However, the exact identities of the deceased individuals can only be ascertained after forensic examination, the police stated, and added that the cause of death could be established through autopsies on all skeletal and soft tissue remains.
While conducting a thorough search of the house, the police discovered an undated and unsigned note written in Kannada on a page from a diary. Although the police could not determine the handwriting’s owner, they have recorded the note as evidence in the case and not as a death note, a senior police official said.
The note indicated that the family was contemplating taking an extreme step due to various ongoing issues.
Preliminary inquiries suggest the possibility of a mass family suicide, but the investigation is still in its initial stages, the police said.
Triveni, the daughter of Jagannath, suffered from longstanding back pain due to spinal cord ailments. One of the sons, Narendra, was involved in a dacoity case registered at the Bidadi Police Station in Ramanagara district, and the police frequently summoned him for case hearings.
According to neighbours, the family remained isolated from everyone in the town, including close relatives. When a relative invited them to a wedding, they took the invitation card through the window without opening the door, a neighbour told South First.
The house in Chitradurga where the skeletons of five of a family were found. (Supplied)
The Chitradurga house, where skeletons of five family members were found, had been locked since 2019, as per the Badavane Extension Police.
“We visited the spot on Thursday evening following a tip and spoke to acquaintances and relatives of the family. All of them claimed that the family used to live a completely secluded life and were facing critical health issues. The family was last seen in June-July 2019. The house had remained locked ever since,” a senior police officer said.
“However, around two months ago, the main wooden door was broken open by some miscreants, the morning walkers in the town observed, but they did not inform the police about their findings,” the officer said.
A visit to the crime scene revealed that the house had been broken into multiple times and ransacked. Four skeletons were found in one room — two on beds and two on the floor — in a sleeping position, while another skeleton was found in a sleeping position in a different room.
The police also interviewed Prema, the closest relative of Jagannath Reddy’s family, who revealed that Jagannath was consistently depressed about his children not getting married. “As Triveni was not married, her two brothers also ended up remaining bachelors and the family had always maintained distance with their relatives, stating that they would spend their lives at some ashram in Kerala,” the police told South First, quoting the family’s relatives.
“Assuming that they would have gone to an ashram in Kerala, their relatives did not check on them over the past five years,” the police added.
Forensic experts from the Davanagere Regional Forensic Science Laboratory (RFSL) have been called to collect evidence from the crime scene.
“The exact cause of death is unclear. It could be suicide or something else. We are in the initial stage of investigation. We will be able to ascertain the cause of death only after the forensic examination and autopsy reports come. Autopsies of all the skeletal remains and soft tissues were performed on Saturday and the samples have been sent to RFSL,” Dharmender Kumar Meena, Superintendent of Police, Chitradurga, told South First.
Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara said, “There is a report about five skeletons found in a house… I have asked the police to investigate it. The police are already at work and the samples have been sent to a forensic science lab to find the age and other details.”
“Also, information is being gathered as to whom the house belongs to and who was living there. Whether they died by suicide or killed by someone, the details are not known. We will get to know after the investigation and from the forensic reports. Until then, we can’t come to any conclusion,” he added.
