DHARWAD, 21 NOV

Four members of a family committed suicide on Friday morning by jumping into a well, allegedly due to mounting debts, police said. The incident occurred in the Chikkamalligawad village in the Dharwad taluk of this district, the police said.

The deceased have been identified as Vittal Shinde, 80, son Narayan Shinde, 42 and grandchildren Shivakumar Shinde, 12 and Shrinidhi Shinde, 11. According to the police, the members of the family jumped into a well near the Yellamma temple early on Friday morning. The incident came to light when cattle grazers spotted the bodies.

Citing preliminary information, a senior police officer said that Narayan jumped into the well along with his father and two children. One of the children was reportedly found wearing her school uniform.

Police have recovered the bodies and shifted them to the Dharwad District Hospital for postmortem. The Dharwad Rural Police and the District Superintendent of Police, Gunjan Arya, visited the spot and carried out an inspection.