Udupi, (The Hindu): Four members of a family allegedly committed suicide by consuming poison in Padubelle village coming under the Shirva Police Station limits in Udupi district on Thursday.

The police have identified the deceased as Shankar Acharya (50), his wife Nirmala Acharya (45), their daughters, Shruthi Acharya (24), an MBA graduate, and Shreya Acharya (21), an MCA student. Shankar Acharya owned a jewellery shop in Padubelle.

K.T. Balakrishna, Superintendent of Police, told The Hindu that the post-mortem had been done at Kasturba Hospital in Manipal. The exact reason for the suicide was not yet known.

“It appears that they mixed poison in their food because there was rice and ‘saaru’ in the plates in the house. Shruthi’s wedding was fixed for September 3,” he said.

According to sources in the Police Department, the suicide must have taken place between 7.15 a.m. and 8 a.m. But the timing had to be ascertained. It was Shankar’s mother, who stayed in his (Shankar’s) brother Harishchandra’s house, who used to go to Shankar’s house daily to collect flowers.

She saw that the front door was open and the doors of both the bedrooms closed. She called for them, but none replied. Then, she raised an alarm.

Then Mr. Harischandra arrived and since there was no reply, the doors of both the bedrooms were broken open and then the matter came to light. While two persons were found lying unconscious in one bedroom, the other two were lying unconscious in another room.

The family members rushed them to a private hospital in Manipal, where the doctors pronounced them brought dead, the sources said.

“So far, we have not obtained any note from the house. But we will carry out another search operation in the house in the presence of the family members,” Mr. Balakrishna said.

A complaint has been registered at the Shirva Police Station. Investigation is on, the police said.