Mass suicide in Andhra Pradesh: Gold merchant, wife and two sons found dead; cyanide bottle recovered

In a shocking incident, a gold shop owner and his three family members were found dead at their residence in Andhra Pradesh's Sri Sathya Sai district on Sunday.

The deceased have been identified as Krishna Chari (55), a gold shop owner in the Gandhi Bazaar area of Madakasira, his wife Sarala, and their two sons — Santosh and Bhuvanesh, a police official said.

The family reportedly died after consuming cyanide.

Chari was the eldest among three brothers. He was in debt and allegedly jealous of his siblings' financial success. Chari's father was the first to witness the bodies, according to a PTI report.

Upon receiving the information, police reached the spot and shifted bodies for autopsy at a government hospital. Santosh was in Class 10 and Bhuvanesh studied in Class 6, media reports stated.

Police on Gold-merchant family's death

The report added that the Police doubt financial distress and internal family issues as the reason behind suspected family suicide. “The family consumed cyanide, which they had access to as goldsmiths,” an official remarked.

They have found a cyanide bottle, indicating poisoning as the cause of death. They also mentioned that the family might have consumed poison on Saturday night.

The police have filed a case and are scrutinising Chari's shattered mobile phone to retrieve data for more insights.

A detailed investigation is underway to confirm if financial distress was the only reason and to discover additional reasons if any that led to the tragedy.

Similar incident in the state

In the last week of December 2024, a 41-year-old farmer named Nagendra, his wife Vani and two children Gayatri and Bhargav were discovered dead at Diddekunta village in YSR district.

According to reports, police had said they might have died by suicide. Agriculture minister Kinjarapu Atchannaidu and district in- charge Minister S. Savitha showed concerns over the incident and ordered an inquiry.

Local villagers found out and alerted the police.

"Inquiries revealed that the farmer had outstanding loans to the tune of ₹20 lakh, which he borrowed from money lenders, to raise a garden of sweet oranges over a 10-acre leased land. However, he did not get any remunerative price for the yield. Late on Friday night, he took his wife and two children to his fields, where he took the step,” HT had quoted the police officer as saying.

The Simhadripuram police's preliminary probe suggested back-to-back losses to Nagendra over the last 8 years and it contributed to his debt. His borrowings increased to ₹20 lakh and money lenders started pressuring Nagendra to repay after learning about his financial status.