Three members of a family, including two minors, are missing from Turkajaria village in Lakhisarai, around 135km east of Patna, since Wednesday night.
One Mahendra Mahto, a resident of Mathsar village in neighbouring Sheikhpura district, lodged a complaint with the Birupur police station in Lakhisarai on Thursday alleging that his daughter Smita (25), and her two children were poisoned to death and their bodies dumped at some place by his son-in-law and his relatives.
The incident took place under the jurisdiction of Birupur police station.
The complainant said his son-in-law, Ram Preet Mahto (30), had an extra-marital affair with a middle-aged woman of his native village. “The couple had a strained relationship for the past six months. Ram used to harass her on one pretext or the other,” Mahendra said, adding that he found his daughter and her kids missing from the house when he visited the village on Thursday morning.
Birupur police station house officer (SHO) Rajendra Prasad said he rushed to the victims’ house after being informed by Mahendra about the incident over phone. “The house was locked from outside and all the family members of the accused were missing. Intensive raids were carried out at suspected hideouts to apprehend the prime suspect, Ram,” he said.
“The neighbours told the police they had noticed some suspicious activity inside Ram’s house on Wednesday night.
On the basis of the father-in-law’s complaint, the police even searched for the bodies of the missing persons but have not found any clues yet,” the officer said.