Keonjhar, June 4: A 45-year-old man killed four of his family members before immolating himself at Ganabarei village within the limits of Bariha police station in the district last night.

Srikrishna Mahanta ended his life after killing his wife Rukmani, 40, daughter Sabita, 15, son Suresh, 12, and sister Sarathi, 50, with an axe while they were asleep in their rooms.

Later, he set all the bodies afire by sprinkling kerosene on them, before setting himself ablaze.

Srikrishna’s neighbours informed the police about the incident this morning.

“We saw smoke emitting from Srikrishna’s house this morning and rushed there. We found four charred bodies lying on the balcony of the house. Srikrishna’s half charred body was also lying in front of his house. The house was completely gutted and household articles were reduced to ashes. We immediately informed the police,” said neighbour Brindaban Mahanta.

“We collected all the bodies and sent them to the government hospital at Champua for post-mortem,” said Baidyanath Sahu, officer in charge of Bariha police station.

“The incident might have occurred early last night. The accused, who happened to be the head of the family and father of two children, axed four of his family members to death. He first killed his two children in a room, then his wife in another room and his elder sister in her room. He cut all the bodies into pieces, collected and assembled them on the verandah of the house and set fire on them by pouring kerosene. Finally, he set himself on fire,” said the police officer.

Two brothers of Srikrishna are staying at Joda with his father, while his elder sister was living with him, the police said, adding the reason behind the crime had not yet been ascertained.

“We have called the two brothers of Srikrishna, who have been staying at Joda along with his father. We are verifying all the aspects of the incident,” the officer said.