Police officials who found a couple and their son dead under mysterious circumstances in Thimi, Bhaktapur on Friday, say that the husband may have killed the other two and taken his own life.

The bodies of Sudip Adhikari, 36, his wife Samjhana, 34, and their 15-year-old son Sushant were found by Adhikari’s younger brother when he went to meet them on Friday. Police also discovered the body of their pet dog at the incident site.

Senior Superintendent of Police Dipak Thapa, chief of the Metropolitan Crime Division, said preliminary investigation shows that Sudip could have murdered his wife and son before killing himself.

“While the bodies were being taken for postmortem, we discovered that Samjhana and her 15-year-old son Sushant’s head and neck had several injuries while there were no signs of injury on Sudip’s body,” Thapa told the Post. “The bodies of both the mother and son were covered by a shawl. We also discovered rat poison at a field behind their home and found blood on Sudip’s clothes.”

Since the bodies were decomposing, the incident must have occurred a few days ago, said Deputy Superintendent of Police Dipak Giri, information officer at the Bhaktapur Metropolitan Police Range..

Only the three members of the family lived in the three-storeyed house and they had a grocery shop on the ground floor, according to Giri.

“Sudip’s body was found on the third floor, his wife's on the second floor while their son’s body was outside a room on the first floor,” said an investigating officer, in the condition of anonymity as they are not allowed to talk with the media. “There were several injuries seen on the bodies of the mother and son. However, the reason for their deaths will be confirmed only after the autopsy report.”

The dog’s carcass was found near the son’s body.

According to police, Sudip and his family had taken a loan of Rs 2.3 million from the Agriculture Development Bank a year ago to construct their home. However, they had difficulty paying the bank interest, as they had no other source of income besides the grocery store.

“Sudip used to work in a pharmaceutical shop but he lost his job and started drinking and gambling,” said the officer. “This led to a lot of fights between the couple, and Sudip, in anger, might have killed his family.”

Police also informed that Sudip had recently taken Rs 200,000 from his father-in-law to expand his grocery shop business.

“We are investigating the case,” said SSP Thapa. “The bodies were handed over to Sudip’s father for final rites.”

Friday’s incident was just the latest in a series of several murder incidents reported during the lockdown. On August 10, a human body cut into pieces was found inside a suitcase at the Baniyatar area of Gongabu in the Capital. Police, however, solved the case within a week and arrested the woman involved in the gruesome killing.

The country has seen a steady rise in murder cases in the last five years.

As per data provided by Nepal Police, 5,172 murder cases were filed in the fiscal year 2014-15 while the number rose to 5,367 in the fiscal year 2015-16. The number jumped up to 5,904 in the year 2016-17 and to 6,405 in 2017-18. There was a slight decline in the number in 2018-19, with 6,233 murder cases.

“Most of the murders reported to Nepal Police were committed by close family members, neighbours and persons known to victims,” said SSP Sushil Kumar Yadav, spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police Office, Ranipokhari. Illicit affairs, suspicions of infidelity and anger due to financial issues were among the major causes.

The number of murders committed under the influence of drugs and alcohol or due to mental disorders is also significantly high, Yadav said.