Several reasons are being cited behind this multiple suicide-cum-murder episode. Some local residents described this as an outcome of superstition, while others pointed out that the two brothers had sold their ancestral land for Rs 1.5 crore and donated the money to an ashram in Barsana near Mathura (UP).

Two of their daughters, Payal, 15 and Sonal, 7, had gone to school. They are the only persons alive in the joint family.

A police official said, they are investigating the role of a woman from Jamnagar. The relatives and neighbours told police that the family, which was in deep devotion to Lord Krishna, was in constant touch with Sonal Ahir, a distant relative, who lives in Aliyabada village of Jamnagar district. Sonal calls herself a Krishna devotee, said Anjar police sub-inspector Uday Jadeja.