Police officials investigate the murder at the Jamidar Palace hotel in Puri. Picture by Sarat Patra

Bhubaneswar, Dec. 16: Police today said that Ankita Bansal, who was allegedly killed along with her two children by her husband inside a hotel room in Puri, was two months pregnant.

This was revealed on the basis of her post-mortem report. The family members of the 30-year-old woman alleged that her husband Amit Agarwal, 31, a Lucknow-based gold merchant, had murdered her.

Amit, a graduate of Agra University in Uttar Pradesh, is still absconding. His family members, as well as that of Ankita, today reached Puri.

The police said that neither Amit nor Ankita had contacted their family members in Uttar Pradesh since August. The police said that Amit used to put bets on the gold market and had suffered huge losses.

“This forced him to take loans and disappear with his family from Uttar Pradesh,” said a police officer.

Puri police have circulated photographs of Amit at various railway stations, bus terminals and taxi stands of the state.

“We are also thinking of issuing a lookout circular at airports and ports of the country, as the businessman has a valid passport and chances are there that he might flee the country,” said superintendent of police, Puri, Anup Kumar Sahoo.

He also said that Puri police would request their counterparts in Uttar Pradesh to visit Puri and help in investigation. The couple along with their four-year-old son Divyansh and seven-year-old daughter Vaani were missing since August 18 after abandoning their car at Galla Mandi in Allahabad.

Amit had also left behind two notes, one in his car and the other at his Lucknow residence. The notes had mentioned alleged that he was being harassed by fellow gold merchants.

Puri police, has, however, ruled out the human sacrifice angle. Although, the police had found materials used for worship such as a bottle of Ganga jal, tulsi beads and mats from the room, they said there was no chance of a sacrifice bid.

“Ankita had observed Vaibhava Lakshmi Vrata on Friday and that was the reason behind the presence of these materials in the room. The incident might have taken place on late Friday night,” said a police officer.

The post-mortem report revealed that all of them were strangulated after they were administered tranquillisers. The police found sleeping pills in the room. Further investigations have revealed that the SIM card used by the couple was registered in the name of a person who belonged to Karnataka.

“We are trying to ascertain whether the family had been to Karnataka and other places, too, as they were missing for the last four months,” said a police officer.