Dakshineswar: A Tollygunge couple in their 70s were found dead in a lodge on Saturday, hours after they had checked in saying they wanted to see the morning aarti at Dakshineswar temple.

Subrata Neogy, 78, and Kakan Neogy, 71, were found on a bed inside one of the rooms of Annapurna Guest House on TN Biswas Road, barely 600m from the temple.

Police suspect they died of poisoning but it was unclear whether they committed suicide or were killed.

The couple had checked in on Friday night and told employees they wanted to see the morning aarti, the police said.

On Saturday morning, when employees of the lodge did not get any response to repeated knocks on the door, they alerted the police.

Cops broke open the door to find Neogy on the bed facing the ceiling with his wife lying on her stomach beside him.

"There were no injury marks on the bodies. Primarily, it appears to be a case of poisoning. The couple might have taken some poison with their dinner," an officer of the Belghoria police station said. "We will send the viscera for tests."

The Neogys lived in Rajendra Lal Ganguly Lane in the Charu Market area.

"They had checked in using their voter identity cards around 8.30pm on Friday," Nikunja Bihari Nandy, the lodge owner, told Metro. "They had vegetables and rice for dinner and retired early."

A team of officers from Belghoria police station sent the bodies to Sagore Dutta hospital for post-mortem and seized the plates, glasses and spoons that were on the table apart from the couple's bag.

The couple's son has apparently told cops that his parents used to take sleeping pills.

The family didn't file any complaint till late on Saturday.