The bodies of a man, his wife and their 12-year-old daughter were found inside a car in Odisha’s Jharsuguda on Thursday morning, police said.

The deceased have been identified as Sujit Ray, his wife Khusbu, and their daughter Arpita. Their bodies, bearing gunshot wounds, were discovered inside a car parked at a playground near Banipahada, under the jurisdiction of Lakhanpur police station in the district, Jharsuguda SP Parmar Smit Parshottamdas said.

Preliminary investigations suggest that the man first shot his wife and daughter before turning the gun on himself, driven by the strain of overwhelming financial losses from online gambling, he said.

The SP said a complaint was filed at Orient police station around 10.30pm on Wednesday reporting the family’s disappearance. Using their mobile phone signals, authorities located the bodies inside the car, which had its engine running and air conditioning on. Both the woman and her daughter had cloth tied over their eyes, while the man was seated in the driver’s seat, Parshottamdas added.

Upon inspecting the man’s mobile phone, investigators discovered his involvement in various online gambling platforms. He had incurred losses exceeding Rs 4.25 lakh on a single app and had taken out loans from multiple sources to fuel his gambling habit, the SP added. Police have confiscated the gun, spent bullet casings, and other evidence, with further inquiries underway.

Polling personnel

With gradual improvement in the situation in Maoist-affected Swabhiman Anchal in Malkangiri district, the administration has decided not to air-drop polling personnel and security forces to polling stations.