Six members of a family, including four children, were found dead at their residence in Odisha's Balangir district on Wednesday, a senior police officer said.
Bodies of Bulu Jani (50), his wife Jyoti (48) and two sons and two daughters, aged between 12 and two years, were recovered by a team of police personnel from their residence at Sanrapada village in Patnagarh police station area.
It was not yet clear if this was a case of suicide or murder, Patnagarh police station inspector in-charge K Priyanka Routray said.
Senior police officers visited the site and conducted a thorough examination of the house as part of the investigation to ascertain the circumstances that led to the incident, she said.
The bodies were sent for post-mortem, the officer said.
The incident came to light after locals found the main door locked from inside for long hours and informed the police.
"It is not clear at this stage whether this is a case of murder or suicide. The exact cause of the death will be known after the post mortem reports are received," she said.
The couple was collecting and selling honey in the village and nearby areas for the last 10 years.
Balangir Superintendent of Police Sandip Sampad Madkar and other senior officials rushed to the spot to take stock of the situation.
Additional SP Manoranjan Pradhan said a special team has been formed to investigate the incident.
