A 32-year-old woman allegedly drowned her two children  five-year-old daughter and 11-month-old son  and then hanged herself from the ceiling fan in her house in Mandawli,East Delhi,on Wednesday afternoon.

Police said Sarita Yadav was at home with her two children and her husband Devendra Yadav,who works as a textile designer at an export company,was at work at the time of the incident.

Devendra told police that his wife called him around 1 pm and said she was going to kill her children and commit suicide.

According to police,Sarita locked the door to the house and first drowned her daughter,Pari,in a semi-automatic washing machine. The woman also closed the lid of the machine as Paris body floated inside.

Police said Pari had been afflicted with polio.

Sarita then drowned her son,Rudra,in a bucket of water in the bathroom,police said.

Saritas body was found hanging in the bedroom.

Sarita and her family lived on the second floor of Yadav Niwas while her brother-in-law and his family occupy the ground floor rooms. Saritas sister-in-law lives on the third floor.

Police said all family members were in Ghazipur to attend a wedding ceremony.

Devendra told police that after he received the phone call from his wife,he rushed home and found the main door locked.

Heera Lal,a neighbour,said: I heard him (Devendra) shouting and trying to break the door open. I went to help him. Devendra first found the body of the boy in the bathroom. He then started looking for his daughter,but she was nowhere to be seen. The body was later found inside the washing machine. His wife was found hanging in the bedroom. We made a PCR call.

Police are still trying to ascertain the trigger behind the alleged murder-suicide,but neighbours said Sarita was not happy with her marriage. They claimed she found it difficult to run the house with her husbands salary. The neighbours said the couple argued often.

Neighbours said the couple had a fight on Tuesday night and Sarita tore Devendras shirt.

Devendra married Sarita in 2005. Initially,everything was fine,but later Sarita picked up fights with her husband over money matters, one of the neighbours alleged.

The neighbours said Paris aunt used to take the child for physiotherapy sessions at Preet Vihar daily and the family spent a lot of money on the treatment of their daughter.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (East) Ajay Kumar said: We have requested an SDM enquiry,even though the couple has been married for more than seven years. We have also called Devendras brother,who is in Mumbai at present,to ascertain the trigger for the incident. He will be able to shed some light on the couples personal life. We will be questioning the womans relatives to find out if she had a disturbed marriage.

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