Tikamgarh (Madhya Pradesh):
Apparently tired of abject poverty, a tribal man allegedly axed his wife and two children to death, before killing himself, at village Kharo in the district.
Phooli Adivasi (49) also tried to kill his other daughter before hanging himself. An injured Munna has been admitted to the district hospital, police said.
Another son, Vinod (16) was lucky as he was out when the incident took place. When he returned home, he found his mother Jamuni (45), brother Pramod (8) and sister Maya (10) lying dead in the pool of blood at their kuccha house.
The deceased had two other sons and a daughter, who are all married and live outside Tikamgarh district, Vinod told police.
Vinod said that the family had not had meals for the last two days, and this drove his father to take the extreme step.
"His financial condition was worrisome but he used to work," Tikamgarh Collector Akilesh Shrivastava said, denying that Phooli committed the grisly act because of starvation.
"I sent Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM) A R Dhok there, who informed me that the deceased had food stuffs at his place," he said.
On the other hand, Tikamgarh Zila Panchayat Member Chatarpal Singh and others claimed that there was no food in the house.