3 members of family found hanging

Three members of a family, including an 8-year-old girl, were found hanging in their house in Alipurduar district on Thursday, police said. Preliminary investigation revealed that 32-year-old Basudeb Pal strangulated his wife Anima (25) and daughter Ankita (8) to death with a gamcha (traditional cotton towel) and then hanged them, Superintendent of Police Nagendra Nath Tripathi said.

Basudeb, stated to be a "habitual drunkard", later committed suicide by hanging at the house in Pakriguri village near the West Bengal-Assam border. Tripathi said the couple had a quarrel last night.

The bodies have been sent for post-mortem examination. Basudeb used to work as daily labourer, the SP said.

Local people said he used to work as a carpenter in Shillong and returned home only Wednesday..