Greater Noida: Five members of a family — a couple and their three minor children — were found dead at their home in Nagla Shri Padam village on Saturday morning. There were no injuries on any of the victims but all were frothing from the mouth.Food poisoning was initially suspected, but a preliminary inspection by food safety officials did not conclusively point to it, leaving the cause of death uncertain. No complaint was registered at the time of going to print.The deceased were identified as Mahesh (37), his wife Lalita (35), and their children Laddu (11), Mishti (7) and Sakshat (3). Police said the bodies were discovered when a neighbourhood child went to call the two school-going children for their examination. When nobody answered the door, the child climbed over the boundary wall and found the family unresponsive inside.Mahesh and one of the children were found lying on a cot, while his wife and the other two children were on a bed. One of the children was clinging to the mother’s lap.SK Gautam, a neighbour, told TOI that he had met the family around 9pm on Friday, when they went to a local fair. “They returned home around 10pm. At about 8am on Saturday, a child from the locality found them unresponsive, after which residents began gathering. Mahesh’s elderly mother, who is unwell, was also in the house. She had slept in another room and was shouting. We immediately called the police,” Gautam said.A team from Rabupura police station, senior police officers, forensic personnel, an ambulance and food safety officials reached the spot. The bodies were taken into custody and sent for postmortem examinations, while forensic teams inspected the house and collected evidence.DCP Greater Noida Shrawan Kumar Singh said Mahesh’s mother had told police that the family had eaten noodles and had tea before going to sleep.Food safety officer OP Singh said his team had inspected the food items found at the house. The preliminary examination did not conclusively indicate food poisoning, he added.“Food poisoning can cause symptoms such as vomiting and diarrhoea, though their onset and severity vary depending on the substance involved and the individual affected,” Singh said. He added that symptoms generally appear within five to six hours.Police are also probing possible property-related motives and the possibility of suicide. Investigators are examining whether Mahesh and his family were under stress and whether he could have poisoned his family before taking his own life.The probe is also focusing on a possible property dispute. Police are trying to establish whether Mahesh had objected to property being registered in his sisters’ names rather than his own, and whether the dispute could have led someone to plot the family’s murder.BJP Jewar MLA Dhirendra Singh, who visited the spot on Saturday morning, said he had assessed the situation and apprised the chief minister’s office of the incident.
