The plice suspect that the girls took the step due to a family dispute. (Representational)

Two sisters, aged 16 and 12, have allegedly committed suicide by consuming poison in Ganjam district, a police officer said.

The girls, Deepa (16) and Lija (12), were daughters of Padmanav Bhuyan, a labourer at Gudiali village in Kabisurya Nagar police station of the district, he said.

Lija died on her way to hospital, while Deepa breathed her last at MKCG Medical College and Hospital in Berhampur, Inspector in-Charge Tapan Kumar Pati said.

"The police did not find any poisonous substance from the Bhuyan household, but the doctors who conducted a post- mortem suspect that the death was due to consumption of poison," he said.

According to Inspector Pati, one of the two girls told the father that she, along with her sister, has taken poison, following which they were rushed to hospital.

"We suspect that the girls took the step due to a family dispute. Their mother died three years ago and the father remarried. He has another two-year-old son," Inspector Pati said, adding that a case of unnatural death has been registered and investigation is in progress.