In what appears to be a case of suicide pact, the charred bodies of a factory owner, his wife and two minor children were found inside their multi-storey house in Uttam Nagar here on Saturday.

Forty-five-year-old Rajinder Saxena, who owned a namkeen-bhujia factory in the Bawana Industrial Area, left behind two suicide notes blaming his neighbour Butaram, a jeweller, his wife Usha Rani and son Sukhdev for harassing them and eventually pushing them towards taking the extreme step.

A case under Section 306 (abetment to suicide) of the Indian Penal Code has been registered against the jeweller, his wife and son, but the police are trying to ascertain the veracity of the allegations in the suicide notes before making any arrests.

The gruesome deaths came to light around 5 a.m. when one of the neighbours of the Saxenas noticed smoke billowing from the ventilators on the top floor of the house. “A family of a senior police officer staying in the neighbourhood first noticed the smoke and soon several people gathered outside the house. Some of us hurled stones breaking the window panes on the first floor of the house in a bid to alert those inside, thinking that a fire had broken out accidentally. A little later, the police reached the spot and discovered the bodies. It later turned out to be a case of suicide pact,” said a woman staying in the neighbourhood.

The bodies of Mr. Saxena, his wife Amita (28) and sons Tipu (9) and Swayam (5) were found in the same room on the top floor.

The Saxenas had come to stay in the locality about four years ago and had bought the house from jeweller Butaram. But the two families were involved in a legal battle over the price of the house and Rajender won the case ten days ago.

“Though the house was registered for Rs.39 lakh and the money was paid, Butaram and his family had been constantly harassing the Saxenas demanding Rs.15 lakh more. They had even threatened to get them eliminated. It had caused a lot of mentally agony to the Saxenas forcing them to take the extreme step,” said Rajinder’s brother-in-law Omprakash, a real-estate agent. One of the neighbours, not willing to be identified, said the Saxenas mostly kept to themselves. “Mr. Saxena was probably reeling under a financial crisis as many people came to him demanding return of their money. But he was not the one to give up easily. He was a real fighter. It is difficult to believe that he could take such a step,” the neighbour said.