Woman, her teen daughter and son found dead in pools of blood inside row house in Solapur; children’s uncle prime suspect

Kolhapur: Three members of a family — a 42-year-old widow and her two teenage children — were found murdered at their home in Boramani village along the Solapur-Hyderabad highway near Solapur city on Saturday morning, with the police suspecting a property dispute as the motive.The deceased have been identified as Gayatri Mhaske, her daughter, Priya (18), and son, Shivraj (16). Gayatri and her daughter were found dead on the terrace of their row house, while Shivraj's body was discovered in the hall. All three were lying in pools of blood with multiple deep cuts.According to the Solapur taluka police, the house is part of a three-unit row housing structure built by three brothers. Gayatri's husband, Sudhakar, died a few years ago. One of Sudhakar's brothers is suspected to be behind the attack, and multiple police teams have been deployed to trace him."The prime suspect is Gayatri Mhaske's brother-in-law. There was an ongoing dispute over the share in ancestral property, and frequent quarrels had taken place in the past," said inspector Rahul Deshpande, of the Solapur taluka police station. "The accused fled the spot after the attack and his whereabouts are currently unknown."Preliminary investigations suggest that the family had slept on the terrace on Friday night. The police believe the attack occurred sometime between 10pm and 8am. Investigators said the assailant allegedly attacked the victims with a sharp weapon while they were asleep.The son reportedly woke up and tried to resist the attacker, chasing him downstairs. The police suspect Shivraj was overpowered and killed in the hall during the struggle.The police said the suspect allegedly used a sword to carry out the murders and was known to possess such a weapon. The bodies of all three victims have been shifted to the civil hospital in Solapur for postmortem. Further investigation is underway.