Muzaffarpur, June 6: A middle-aged woman allegedly committed suicide with her three children in Jahangirpur village under Motipur police station in the district this morning.

The deceased was identified as 30-year-old Geeta Devi, who allegedly torched herself and the three child- ren, including two boys and a girl.

The incident came as a rude shock to the villagers of Jahangirpur and its adjoining areas.

Sources said both the in-laws of Geeta had left the thatched house at the crack of dawn to work in nearby agricultural fields. Geeta and her three children were in the house.

Geeta’s husband, Anil Kumar Ram, who was not present in the village, works as a migrant labourer outside the state.

The station house officer (SHO) of Motipur police station, Vijay Yadav, stated that the death of her Geeta and her three children was a case of suspected suicide.

Thereafter, he visited the village to take stock of the situation.

Geeta could not bear the pain of her extreme loneliness and often got into altercations with her in-laws, he added.

Neighbours narrated to the police how the occu- pants of the house were at loggerheads all the time, one of the reasons being the acute poverty that the family suffered from over the last several years.

The children were identified as eight-year-old Akhelesh Kumar, five-year-old Pipli Kumari and three-year-old Ankit Kumar.

The police said Geeta, along with her three child- ren, suspected to have comm-itted suicide by dousing kerosene oil upon themselves.

The woman and her children were found lying in a critically burnt condition.

The neighbours of the family got a foul smell and spotted smokes billowing out of the thatched house rushed there.

The villagers tried to save them to the best of their capabilities but by that time, all four were dead.

The bodies of Geeta and her three children were taken to Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital for autopsy.

The district magistrate, Santosh Kumar Mall, told The Telegraph that the police and administrative officers have been sent to the village to ascertain the actual cause behind the tragic incident.

The sub-divisional officer (west), Kundan Kumar, visited the village and held discussions with the in-laws of Geeta and other villagers to ascertain the reasons behind the happenings.

The district magistrate attributed family tension to Geeta’s drastic step.

Motipur police have lodged a case of suspected suicide in the incident and are investigating the case.