Five bodies, all hanging, were recovered from three locations of Malda and Cooch Behar districts in the past 24 hours.In Malda, the bodies of a middle-aged couple staying in Kaligram of Chanchal were found hanging from a room in their house on Friday night.

Sources said land broker Jogen Rakshit, 52, and his wife Sonamoni, 43, had been staying at the locality for years.

“The couple didn’t interact much with neighbours. Some residents saw the bodies and informed us. Preliminary probe suggests suicide. A case has been filed and we are waiting for post mortem reports from the Malda Medical College & Hospital,” said a police officer.

Choton Rakshit, Jogen’s nephew who lives nearby, said: “We have no inkling about the cause of their deaths. They didn’t have any problems among themselves. We want police to find out what happened.”In Cooch Behar, two bodies of Naresh Barman, 48, and his sister-in-law Sabita Barman, 45, were hanging from a tree at Chat-Singimari village under Pundibari police station area on Saturday morning. Two bottles of suspected poison were recovered from the spot.In the third incident, 18-year-old Rupam Adhikary, a college student of ward 10 of Mathabhanga town, also in Cooch Behar district, was found hanging at his house. Police suspect suicide in both the cases.

Timber seized

Acting on a tip off, foresters of the Belakoba forest range of Baikunthapur forest division seized illegal teak logs worth around Rs 40 lakh from a truck on NH 27 near Karatowa of Jalpaiguri on Saturday.The timber was hidden under sacks of rice. During preliminary interrogation, the arrested driver revealed that the logs were loaded in Assam and were on their way to Bihar.