Howrah, Feb. 14: A family of three was found dead here today, raising the possibility of delay in pension clearance driving them to a suicide pact.

Ramesh Porel, a 63-year-old retired accounts clerk of a school, and his son Prasenjit, 26, were hanging from the hooks of fans on the ceiling in a ground-floor room of their two-storey home in Kaibartapara Lane in Howrah.

Porel’s wife Aparna, 52, was lying dead in a bed, apparently having consumed poison.

The police said the family might have entered into a suicide pact after Ushangini Girls’ High School, where Porel worked, refused to give him a “no-liability certificate”.

The document is needed to get pension sanctioned by the district inspector of schools. Delay in pension clearance is a debilitating disease in Bengal’s education system.

Porel joined the school as a clerk in 1974 and retired in September 2007 and was the sole breadwinner of the family. Prasenjit was a commerce graduate and was studying to become a chartered accountant.

The police have lodged a murder case against Porel based on a complaint by his brother. The sibling said he had received an SMS from Porel saying the retired clerk had killed his wife and son and then committed suicide.

But the police said circumstantial evidence pointed more to a suicide pact as it would have been difficult for a 63-year-old man to murder a 26-year-old, especially in the absence of any sign of resistance.

In a suicide note, Porel blamed officials of the school for blocking his pension and pushing him to the brink of starvation. The note said the authorities were trying to falsely implicate him in a theft and send him to jail.

The school officials said though Porel was initially denied the “no-liability certificate”, they had decided to issue it after he wrote to them about his immense financial hardship.

Head teacher Namita Sahu said: “We told him to visit the school today to inform him that he would be given the no-liability certificate.”

The police are verifying whether the statement was issued after learning of the suicides or before.

The secretary of the managing committee of the school, Gopal Mukherjee, who is also Howrah’s mayor, said the delay was because Porel was facing charges of financial irregularities and was in possession of some documents. The authorities, however, had not lodged any police complaint.

“The school authorities have said that some financial anomalies had surfaced after the school carried out an audit, but they are yet to give us any details of it,” said Howrah police superintendent Niraj Kumar Singh. “We will examine the audit report ourselves.”

Porel’s sister Shukla Das, who stays nearby, said Prasenjit had told her yesterday that his father was behaving “oddly”.

Neighbours said Porel had been suffering from depression and frustration since his retirement.