Young Man, Sister-In-Law And Her 2-Year-Old Daughter Found Hanging By Same Cloth In Shocking Murder-Suicide

Three members of a migrant family in India were mysteriously found dead inside a home in Patancheru, a suburb of Hyderabad city, on Thursday (Aug. 4) morning.

Basudev Kushwah (27), his brother’s wife, Rekha Kushwah (28), and her 2-year-old daughter Sonam, all were found hanging dead by the same rope from the ceiling fan in their home. Police believe this is a case of an apparent murder-suicide.

According to Patancheru Deputy Superintendent of Police, Bheem Reddy, Basudev and Rekha were having an illicit relationship and their family members had found out about it recently.

The issue was sorted out by elders and Basudev was ordered to stay away from Rekha, the DSP said.

Three months ago, Basudev moved to Banur, a small town in the state of Punjab, where he found work as a daily wage laborer at a tile factory.

Last month, Rekha and her husband, Gajendra also relocated to the same town in search of work. The couple, accompanied by their toddler, rented a home in the same neighborhood where Basudev was living.

When Basudev’s family members got to know that Rekha had shifted to Banur, they began pressurizing him to return to his hometown in the state of Madhya Pradesh. They had him book a ticket for a train leaving for his village on Wednesday night.

“Basudev’s wife and his parents began pressurizing him to return to MP. On their insistence, he booked a train ticket,” the DSP told Times of India.

Instead of boarding the train on Wednesday night, Basudev went to meet Rekha at her home when her husband was asleep. When Basudev did not reach home the next morning, his family members initiated a search which eventually led them to Rekha’s house, where the gruesome discovery was made.

“Gajendra was asleep in the front room and the door of the other room was locked from the inside. When the latch was opened, Rekha, Basudev, and Sonam were found hanging from a ceiling fan hook with a sari. There was no suicide note,” the DSP said.

The bodies were brought down from the noose and sent to a medical examiner’s office where an autopsy determined the cause of death to be asphyxiation due to hanging.

Police believe Basudev and Rekha hanged the child before killing themself, according to reports.

A case of unnatural death was registered and the bodies were handed over to the victim’s family members after the autopsy, reports said. A further investigation is underway.