A married couple decapitated themselves using a home-crafted guillotine, it has been reported.
Hemubhai Makwana, 38, and his wife Hansaben, 35, ‘severed’ their heads as part of a sacrificial ritual in India.
Local media said the device was set up so that their heads would roll into an altar in their farm in Vinchhiya, Gujarat.
Their bodies were found by their son, aged 13, and daughter, aged 12, on Sunday morning, the Times of India said.
Authorities said the pair left a suicide note for their children, parents and relatives before taking their lives.
Sub-inspector Indrajeetsinh Jadeja, of Vinchhiya police station, confirmed that Mr and Ms Makwana used a ‘guillotine-like mechanism’.
He said: ‘We are recording statements of the family members and trying to know the reason behind the couple’s extreme step.’
Mr Jadeja added that the day before the incident, the parents had sent their two children to their uncle’s house.
Police also said that over the past year, the couple had made a temporary temple using a picture of Shiva, one of the main deities of Hinduism.
Mr and Ms Makwana’s bodies were sent for a post-mortem.
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