Two elderly sisters found dead in South Goa; police suspect suicide

Two elderly sisters were found dead in their house in South Goa's Canacona district, with police suspecting they may have died by suicide. The women, aged 70 and 73, were unmarried and had lived together for several years.

Police have started inquest proceedings. A purported suicide note and a clinic spirit bottle were recovered from a bedroom in the house. In the brief note, the sisters are said to have written that they had set aside more than Rs 15,000 for their cremation and indicated where the cash had been kept for their last rites.

According to a senior police officer, a preliminary probe suggests the sisters died about four days before the bodies were found. The information reached police at 9.40 pm on Sunday, when they were told that two women had been found dead and that a foul smell was coming from the house. A team from Canacona reached the spot and found the bodies in an advanced stage of decomposition.

The officer said a local panchayat member had visited the sisters eight days earlier to discuss a government LPG scheme that provides three free cylinders a year. One of the sisters was unwilling to take the scheme, saying she was frustrated with life and did not wish to live for too long. The panchayat member did not attach much importance to the remark at the time.

An inquest panchnama was conducted and the bodies were sent for post-mortem examination. Police said the surgeon did not give an opinion on the cause of death because of the advanced decomposition. Samples of visceral organs have been preserved for chemical analysis, and the bodies have been handed over to family members for last rites.