Coorg: A three-member family was found dead inside their room in a resort here on Saturday. The deceased are Vinod Babusenan (43) of Chamavila House in Kollam's Paravoor, his wife Jibi Abraham and her daughter Jain Mariya Jacon (11). 

The staff at the resort found Vinod and his wife hanging inside the room on Saturday afternoon. The child was found lying motionless on the bed. It is assumed that Vinod and wife died by suicide after killing their daughter.

Jibi and Vinod were into their second marital relationship while Jain was Jibi’s daughter from her earlier relationship.

The family had checked in at the resort in Madikeri, the district headquarters of Coorg, around 6 pm on Friday. Although they were to vacate the room by Saturday morning, no one came out of it from the next day. The staff grew suspicious in the absence of any response from the family despite multiple attempts to reach them. They finally broke open one of the room’s windows and saw the couple hanging from the ceiling and their daughter lying motionless nearby. 

Vinod, who left the Indian Army before the expiry of his contract, had divorced his first wife, a native of Aymanom in Kottayam. The estranged couple too had a kid in their relationship.

Jibi Abraham, a teacher with the biotechnology department at Mar Thoma College, Thiruvalla, entered into a relationship with Vinod and married him three months ago at Nedungolam Register Office in Paravoor, Kollam. Vinod, who returned from the army in 2012, had been living in Bengaluru and Thiruvalla for years, and it was in September this year that he last visited the ancestral home.

The newly-wedded couple had been living in a rented apartment in Thiruvalla after their marriage. Preliminary investigations suggested that the family had fallen into a major debt trap.

Madikeri Rural police inspected the crime scene and booked a case. Police have recovered a suicide note of the couple from their room. 'No one is responsible for our death,' reads the note. The bodies have been taken to a government hospital in Coorg. Madikeri police said that relatives of the deceased will reach Coorg soon and the bodies will be handed over to them after autopsy.