In all, nine bodies have been recovered from an agricultural well in Gorrekunta village under Geesugonda mandal in Warangal Rural district over the past two days.
Bodies of four members of a migrant worker’s family from West Bengal were found on Thursday.
On Friday morning, police arranged to pump out the water after finding another body floating in the well. This led to the recovery of four more bodies.
The dead were identified as Maqsood Alam (50); his wife Nisha Alam (45); their sons Shabaz Alam (21) and Sohail Alam (20); daughter Bushra Alam (22); Bushra’s three-year-old son; Sriram (35); Shyam (40); and Shakeel (40).
Residents for 20 years
While Maqsood and his family were from West Bengal, Sriram and Shyam hailed from Bihar.
Shakeel was a local who worked as driver in a nearby factory.
Maqsood and his family had been staying at Kareembad in Warangal city for the last 20 years. He and his wife had been working at a gunny bag manufacturing unit in Gorrekunta’s industrial area since December. With the lockdown restrictions, the family was unable to go to their rented home in Kareemabad in the city and had been staying on the mill’s premises. Sriram and Shyam stayed in another room on the terrace of the building.
No injuries
Warangal Commissioner of Police V. Ravinder said the owner of the mill informed the Geesugonda police on Thursday morning that his employees were missing.
Later in the afternoon, he informed them of four bodies in a well adjacent to the mill.
“There are no injuries on the bodies. Post-mortem report will throw light on the cause of the deaths. We have formed teams to investigate the case,” Mr. Ravinder said.
Geesugonda police Inspector G. Shiva Ramaiah said they suspect that financial problems in the wake of the lockdown may have driven the family to suicide.
Police have moved the bodies to MGM hospital for post mortem.
A case of suspicious death under Section 174 of CrPC has been registered, the Inspector said.
