In a chilling incident, at least nine members of two brothers’ families allegedly consumed poison and ended their lives in Mhaisal village near Miraj, police said here on Monday.

A veterinarian and his brother, a schoolteacher, their spouses and children are among the dead, with nine bodies found from their houses.

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The reasons for the severe action, whether planned or spontaneous, as well as the hazardous drugs they drank, are unknown at this time, and additional information is required.

The news of the purported mass suicide spread like wildfire, with hundreds of stunned residents running to their houses in the village’s Ambika Nagar region.

Sangli Superintendent of Police Dikshitkumar Gedam, Mhaisal Police Inspector Chandrakant Bendre, and other top police officers hurried to the scene to investigate and calm the crowd.

The work of recording the panchnamas, taking photographs of the bodies before sending them for autopsy and other procedures is currently underway, said an official
(with inputs from IANS)