Patna: 2 found dead in parked car; police suspect suffocation, family alleges murder

Bodies of 7-year-old girl and 5-year-old boy found in an unlocked Hyundai Santro with Uttarakhand plates, parked inside a house in Patna’s Indrapuri area

Patna: Two siblings were found dead inside a parked car in Bihar’s Patna on Friday evening, with police suspecting death due to suffocation, while the family has alleged foul play.

Police suspect that the duo might have gotten trapped inside the car while playing and died of suffocation. (Representative photo)

The bodies of the seven-year-old girl and five-year-old boy were recovered from a Hyundai Santro car bearing a Uttarakhand registration number, which was found unlocked and parked inside the premises of a house in the densely populated Indrapuri locality.

Police suspect that the duo might have gotten trapped inside the car while playing and died of suffocation. The bodies were sent for postmortem.

“Police received information that the bodies of two minors were found inside an abandoned car. Officers were immediately deployed to the site. One of the children had died on the spot, and the other was declared dead on arrival by doctors at the hospital. A Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) team visited the spot to collect evidence,” said city superintendent of police (Central) Diksha, adding that the exact cause of death will be confirmed after the autopsy.

The siblings’ father, Ganesh Saw, a native of Samastipur, works as a labourer in Patna, while their mother, Kiran Devi, is employed as a domestic help.

According to family members, the children had left home around 12.30 pm to attend tuition classes, which they had joined four months ago, at the teacher’s house in the neighbourhood. When they did not return by evening, the family began searching for them.

Devi said the tuition teacher told her that the children had already left for home when she called around 4 pm. “The search continued until about 7 pm, when the children were found unconscious inside a parked car just a short distance from their house,” she said.

Devi alleged that her son’s body had injury marks and that her daughter was strangled, and their bodies were hidden in the car.

SP Diksha said that, prima facie, there were no injury marks found on the bodies.

“The car was seized and its owner was contacted. The police have also questioned the 55-year-old local female tutor, whose sons are settled abroad. The CCTV footage of her house showed that the two siblings went out in a jolly mood. We are also scanning the CCTV footage of the adjoining areas in case of foul play in this case,” Diksha added.