New Delhi, 23 Mar

A 21-year-old man and an 18-year-old woman -- both cousins involved in a romantic relationship -- allegedly committed suicide by hanging from a tree at Deer Park in south Delhi's Hauz Khas area early on Sunday morning.

Ruling out any foul play, a police officer said the couple committed suicide after their families objected to the relationship.

The man worked in a pizza shop in Lodhi Colony, while the woman was a baby-sitter, he said.

"Their fathers were brothers. However, the boy and girl developed feelings for each other. Their families had asked them to end the relationship just two-three days ago," a senior police officer said.

He added that unable to live without each other, the couple decided to end their lives.

Police have initiated inquest proceedings in the case. They had earlier said that the duo were supposedly aged 17.

According to the police, they received a PCR call at 6:31 am from a security guard at the Deer Park, who informed them about the bodies. The man was dressed in a black T-shirt and blue jeans, while the woman was wearing a green dress, they said.

Two broken phones were recovered near the spot. "The forensic team found a SIM card in one of the phones. We used this SIM card in another phone, which helped us identify the bodies and reach out to the families of the couple," the senior police officer said.

No suicide note has been recovered so far, he said.

The official said the families of the deceased, in their statements, confirmed that the man and the woman were romantically involved, and given the nature of their relation, they were asked to end it.

The family told police that the man, a resident of Pilanji village here, left home at around 2 pm on Saturday.

The woman, a resident of Chattarpur Enclave, who had been staying with her aunt in Humayunpur village for the last three days, left the house around the same time on Saturday to return to her own home for some work, police said.

According to sources, a major hindrance in the investigation has been the lack of CCTV cameras inside the park. However, footage from nearby surveillance cameras were being scanned to work out the sequence of events there, they said.

Meanwhile, some locals said they suspected foul play in the matter.

A local man told PTI Videos that it would have been difficult for two persons to climb the tree from where the duo were found hanging and that has given rise to suspicion that they might have been killed and then hanged.