JODHPUR: Four members of a family, including a six-month-old girl, were killed and their bodies set ablaze by unidentified persons in this district of Rajasthan on Wednesday, police said.
The assailants first slit the throats of the family members and then set their hut afire early in the morning in Cheria village of the Osian area, they said.
Police rushed to the spot after villagers alerted them noticing the fire in the hut.
Inspector General of Police, Jodhpur, Jainarayan Sher told PTI that a relative of the family has been taken into custody and was being questioned.
In Jaipur, Rajasthan Assembly Speaker C P Joshi informed the House during Zero Hour that the state government will give a statement on the incident at 5 pm.
DGP Umesh Mishra has instructed ADG (Crime) Dinesh M N to go to Osian to monitor the case.
Superintendent of Police (Jodhpur Rural) Dharmendra Singh Yadav said preliminary investigation in the case pointed to some family dispute.
Those killed were identified as Poonaram (55), his wife Bhanwari (50), their daughter-in-law Dhapu (23) and her six-month-old daughter Manisha.
Yadav said police teams have been formed to investigate the case.
A dog squad and a forensic team were also roped in to gather evidence, he added.
"We are not sure about the cause of the killings but it certainly was not a theft case. We believe that the killers had come with the sole objective of murder," Yadav said.
Poonaram's son had left for work in a stone quarry after dinner on Tuesday night, locals said.
Jodhpur Collector Himanshu Gupta, SP Singh and other officials visited the spot.
As per the primary probe, Poonaram's nephew is the prime suspect in the case. He has been rounded up, police said.
Rashtriya Loktantrik Party leader and Nagaur MP Hanuman Beniwal said Jodhpur is the hometown of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, yet crimes are happening in the district.
He alleged that the Marwar region has become a hub of drugs, demanding stern action to control the situation.
Beniwal said people involved in such heinous crimes should be eliminated in "encounters".
"The incident of Jodhpur is heart-wrenching. If the accused involved in the case are not arrested within 24 hours, our party will launch an agitation," he said.