Kasaragod: In a suspected case of murder-suicide, a woman and her five-year-old daughter were found dead in a community well in Kasaragod's Kalnad grama panchayat on Friday.

Melparamba police identified the deceased as Rubina (30) and Hanana Mariyam K of Aramanganam in Kalnad panchayat. Rubina's husband Thajudeen works in the Middle East. The couple has a younger son.

Panchayat member Maimoona Abdulrahman said the family was facing a financial crisis. Rubina and her daughter lived with her parents, sister, and the sister's three children, she said.

Around noon, Rubina's family found a note purportedly written by her in the house. It asked Rubina's mother to take care of her son, whom she left behind at home.

On realising that Rubina and Hanana were missing from the house they started searching for them. They found the mother and daughter dead in the community well near their house. 

Melparamba police and personnel from the Fire and Rescue Department pulled out the bodies from the well. The bodies were shifted to the General Hospital for autopsy.

Neighbours said the family had toured North India and visited Taj Mahal and returned earlier this week.

Rubina, a post-graduate in English, was a teacher in a play school in the neighbourhood. She had bought five cents to build a house. Her father Abdul Rahman gave her Rs 1 lakh too, the relatives said. They said her father did not know of the financial crunch she was facing.