4 tourists found dead in Rajgir dharmshala, probe on

Four tourists were found hanging in a Bihar dharmshala; police investigate possible suicide or murder amid suspicious circumstances.

In a shocking incident, bodies of four tourists, two men and two women, were found hanging in a room of Digambar Jain dharmshala at Bihar’s Rajgir on Friday. Nalanda police recovered the bodies after the manager of the dharamshala (rest house) got a foul smell emanating from room 6-AB, raising suspicion. Police are investigating whether it’s a suicide or murder.

4 tourists found dead in Rajgir dharmshala, probe on

Police said, the four Jain tourists had been staying at the dharmshala since January 31. When the odour was detected, the manager first informed the police, who arrived at the spot and broke open the door and discovered the grim scene.

The bodies were found hanging in the four corners of the room. Preliminary investigations suggest the deaths occurred four days before, potentially pointing to suicide, though the exact cause remains unclear pending further investigation. Police said till February 2, dharamshala’s staff saw the guests, and since then the room was not opened.

The bodies were sent for autopsy and CCTV footage from the rest house is under review to uncover any additional details. Police sealed the room completely while FSL team collected evidence from the spot. Police also questioned dharamshala in-charge Mukesh Jain and other staff to ascertain the cause of the incident. The dharmshala has 50 rooms and most of them are filled with tourists.

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Authorities are working to piece together the events leading to the deaths, and more details are expected to emerge as the investigation progresses.

Police said the deceased were a 50-year-old man, his 78-year-old physically disabled mother and two sisters 48 and 43 years old. The three women had their hands tied behind their backs and mouths taped. Twenty five strips of sleeping pill (anti depression), cash of ₹1.18 lakh, Aadhar, PAN and belongings had been recovered from the room, they added.

“They had talked about going to Pavapuri Jalmandir. A medical board has been constituted for their postmortem,” said Nalanda SP Bharat Soni, adding that a two-member SIT was formed to investigate the matter. and the team would visit their native place in Karnataka’s Tamkur district.