Police have recovered the skeletal remains of three persons - suspected to be an elderly couple and their daughter - from a house in a village in Palghar district of Maharashtra, a senior official said on Saturday.

They were recovered from Nehroli village in Wada tehsil of the district on Friday, he said.

"Local residents complained of foul smell emanating from the house, which was locked from inside, and alerted the police about it," senior inspector Datta Kindre of Wada police station said.

"The police personnel rushed to the house and broke open the door. They were shocked to find the skeletal remains of two women in the drawing room, while those of the man were inside in the bathroom. The bodies were completely decomposed with only skeletal remains in place," he said.

These remains are suspected to be those of a 70 year-old man, his 65-year-old wife and their daughter aged 35.

They were immediately sent to a government hospital for a post-mortem procedure, he added.

"How the three family members died is being ascertained and a probe has been launched," Kindre said.

A case under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) sections of murder, concealing information and others has been registered against unidentified persons, the official said.

As per the preliminary information, the old couple and their differently-abled daughter resided there, while their two sons lived at Vasai in the district, the police said.

The recovery of the skeletal remains has created shock waves among the villagers.

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