Hyderabad, July 26 (IANS): A man killed five members of his family before committing suicide in Telangana's Khammam district on Wednesday, police said.
The bodies of six people, including two children, were found in a canal of Paleru reservoir early on Wednesday.
Police initially treated it as a case of suicide by the entire family but preliminary investigations revealed that Sheikh Saleem, 32, killed his parents, wife and children before ending his life.
Bodies of Sheikh Pento Sahab, 50, his wife Sheikh Mahabuba Bi, 45, Sheikh Saleem, 32, his wife Razia, 28, and their daughters Shehnaz Begum, 8, and Nasreena, 4, were recovered from the canal.
The family hailed from Jilla village in Kusumanchi 'mandal' (block).
Saleem allagedly murdered all the family members and threw their bodies in the reservoir before jumping into the water body.
Khammam Police Commissioner Tafseer Iqbal said the police recovered a suicide note and have sent it for forensic analysis.
He said Saleem was apparently vexed with the family disputes as his father was a habitual drunkard and used to harass the family members.
"Preliminary inquiry shows he killed all the family members before committing suicide. We are doing further investigations," the police chief said.
According to Saleem's relatives, he woke up his family members around midnight and told them that somebody has done black magic to the family and hence they have to immediately go to the reservoir to perform some rituals to ward off its effects.
As they reached the reservoir, Saleem told his nephew Sheikh Lal that he forgot important items to do the rituals at home and sent him to fetch the same.
Sheikh Lal did not find any item at home and when he returned to the reservoir, the entire family was missing. He then saw their bodies in the reservoir and alerted the villagers.
