Three members of a family have allegedly committed suicide at their house in Chennai, with preliminary investigations suggesting unmanageable debts as the reason for the incident.

The deceased identified as Sairam (46), his wife Vasantha (43) and their daughter Aishwariya (13) were living in a rented house in Kolathur.

Police sources said Sairam had hanged himself from the ceiling in the house while Vasantha and Aishwariya were believed to be poisoned.

The incident happened on Thursday night and police were alerted by the house owner’s brother who was passing by Sairam’s house, and found him hanging.

Police broke open the door and found the three bodies.

Investigations revealed that Sairam was unemployed for the past six months and had debts. Depressed over this, he decided to end his life along with his family.

It is also understood that Sairam was under psychiatric treatment for the past six months.

The bodies have been sent to the government hospital for autopsy.

Investigations are on to establish if Sairam had laced poison with the food and served it to his wife and daughter and then hanged himself or if the family chose to end their lives together.

A case has been registered.