CHENNAI: Three persons of the same family including a couple and their 12-year-old daughter died in a suspected suicide pact in their home in Sekkadu near Manali on Sunday evening.

Preliminary investigations have revealed that the couple faced loss in their business and had mounting debts which led to them taking the extreme step.

The deceased were identified as Jaganathan (40), his wife, Lokeshwari (35) and daughter Kaviya. Kaviya was a class 8 student at a private school in MKB Nagar, police said.

Jaganathan was running an organic store. Police suspect the couple to have poisoned the child.

Police learned about the triple deaths after Jaganathan's mother visited home on Sunday evening after repeated calls to his phone went unanswered.

Jaganathan's mother peeped through one of the windows as the door was locked and found the couple hanging. She alerted the neighbours who informed the police and a team from MM Colony police station rushed to the scene and broke the door open. The daughter was found lying unconscious. All three of them were moved to the Government Stanley Medical College Hospital for post-mortem.

Police found a suicide note in which Jaganathan cited mounting doubts as the reason for the extreme step.

Probe revealed that the man had purchased a house in 2020 which he sold in three years to repay a portion of the loan.

A case has been registered and further investigations are on.