Two days after a family of five was found dead in Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi, police have intensified their search for a relative, the prime suspect in the case who has been missing since the incident, officials said on Thursday. The police are also set to question the family's tenants who were traced to Mumbai as part of their investigation into the killings that have shaken the Bhelupur area. The five bodies were cremated on Thursday after post-mortem, officials said.

The incident occurred on Monday night in the Bhaidani locality. While the body of Rajendra Gupta was found around 10 kilometres from his house on Tuesday afternoon, his wife Neetu (45), sons Navnendra (25) and Subendra (15), and daughter Gaurangi (16) were found shot dead in their home. Initially, police focused on Rajendra Gupta as the main suspect, given his history in a pending murder case from 1997 and ongoing family disputes. However, shortly after the bodies of his family were discovered, Gupta was found dead in an under-construction house in the Rohaniya area.