A special investigation team (SIT) of J&K Police was constituted on Wednesday to investigate the death of six people whose semi-decomposed bodies were found in the posh Sidhra residential area of Jammu city.

“SIT headed by Sanjay Sharma (SP rural Jammu), Pardeep Kumar (SDPO Nagrota), Inspector Vishav Partap (SHO Nagrota) and SI Majid Hussain (IC Police Post Sidhra) has been formed to investigate the matter.

“Prima facie it appears to be a case of poisoning, though it has to be ascertained whether it is a case of forced poisoning or otherwise.

“Five deceased belonged to Marmat in Doda district of Jammu division and one to Barzalla area of Srinagar district.

“Of these, Sakina Begum and her two daughters, Naseema and Rubina, and her son, Zafar Saleem, and Sajad Ahmad were from Doda district while Noor-ul-Habib was from Barzalla area of Srinagar District.

“Around 10 p.m. yesterday, we received a call from a woman in Barzalla area of Srinagar saying that her brother, Noor-ul-Habib was not picking up her calls and she had apprehension about some untoward happening.

“Upon this, police parties of police post Sidhra and police station Nagrota rushed to the spot and found that the doors of the house were bolted from inside.

“The doors of the house were forcibly broken open in the presence of locals of Tawi Vihar Colony in Sidhra.

“It was found that the dead bodies were lying in the house.

“A team of FSL and photographers of the crime section of PCR was called in.

“Locals of the area informed that the four dead bodies were of Noor-ul-Habib, Sakina Begum, Sajad Ahmed and Nassema Akhter.

“Locals also informed us that there is another house which belongs to one of the deceased.

“The police party went there, opened the doors and found two more bodies of Rubina Bano and her brother Zafar Saleem”, police said.

Senior police officers, including Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Jammu, Chandan Kolhi also rushed to the spot.

Bodies are in the government medical college hospital in Jammu where medico-legal formalities, including post-mortem is being conducted to ascertain the exact cause of death.