Keonjhar, April 20: A farmer, who was under mental pressure for his debt burden, axed his wife and daughter to death before hanging himself in his house at Jadichatar here.

The bodies of Dhaneswar Majhi, 36, his wife, Nirasha, 30, and daughter Sasmita, 4, were found in the same room this morning.

“My son returned home from field late last night and slept after taking his dinner. The couple and their daughter were sleeping in a room while Dhaneswar’s son was sleeping in another room. In the morning, my grandson knocked at the door of his parents. As there was no response, he broke it open and found the bodies,” said Dhaneswar’s father Pandu Majhi.

“We rushed to the room only to find the two bodies of mother and daughter were lying on the floor. We also found Dhaneswar’s body hanging from the ceiling of the same room. He axed his wife and daughter to death before hanging himself in his room late last night,” said S. Tapo, inspector in charge of Sadar police station.