Bodies of four persons of a family, including three women, were found in a decomposed state in one of the rooms in Yatri Nivas at Srirangam here on Friday.
The police identified the deceased as T. Swaminathan, 67 of Thiruvaiyaru taluk in Thanjavur district, his wife S. Senbagavalli, 64, and their daughters Bhavani, 41, and Jeeva, 35.
According to the police, all the four had ended their lives. Swaminathan had booked a room in Yatri Nivas a few days ago and had stayed there with his wife and two daughters who were unmarried and said to be mentally ill.
The police said one of the Yatri Nivas employees encountered a foul smell emanating from the room in the morning and alerted the other staff. An alert was immediately sounded to the local police. As the room was bolted from inside, the door was broken open and the police found the bodies in a decomposed state.
Police recovered a note purportedly written by Swaminathan in Tamil in which he said that he and his wife were aged and were distressed over their daughters’ future. This had apparently prompted Swaminathan and the others to take the extreme step, the police said.
The decomposed bodies were removed from the room and taken to the Government Hospital, Srirangam, for post-mortem. The Srirangam police are investigating.
(Assistance for overcoming suicidal thoughts is available on the State’s health helpline 104, Tele-MANAS 14416, and Sneha’s suicide prevention helpline 044-24640050).
Published – December 19, 2025 05:49 pm IST
