Six dead bodies, five from a single family, were found late Tuesday in two houses in the Tawi Vihar locality in Sidhra on the outskirts of Jammu city, according to officials.

“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,” said Jammu district police chief, SSP Chandan Kohli.

"Police got a phone call from a woman on Tuesday about 10 p.m. "She told us that her brother Noor-ul-Habib in Sidhra was not picking up her calls and that she believed he had committed suicide," said the SSP.

Police arrived at the scene and discovered the house's doors bolted from the inside.

A foul smell was also emanating from the house.

“The doors of the house were forcibly broken in the presence of civil witnesses (locals of Tawi Vihar Colony Sidhra). We found four dead bodies inside the house. A team of FSL experts and photographers were called in. An inquest proceeding has been initiated,” said the SSP.

“The locals of the area informed us that the four dead bodies were of Noor-ul-Habib aged (55), son of Habibullah of Barzulla in Srinagar, Sakina Begum, aged (62), widow of Ghulam Hassan, Sajad Ahmed (17), son of Farooq Ahmed Magray and Nassema Akhter (40), daughter of late Ghulam Hassan,” he informed.

Locals also informed the police that another house in Tawi Vihar belonged to one of the four dead.

As a result, the police party went there and opened the doors to find two more dead bodies, according to the SSP.

The deceased were identified as Rubina Bano (32), daughter of Ghulam Hussain and Zafar Salim (28), son of Ghulam Hussain.

"Similar, a probe has been ordered to determine the cause and motive behind the deaths," Kohli said.

“The family worked for Noor-ul-Habib and lived in his house. They were like a family. They hailed from Doda and Noor-ul-Habib belonged to Barzulla in Srinagar,” the SSP said.

The dead bodies were shifted to GMC Jammu for autopsy and will be handed over to the legal heirs after medico-legal formalities.

An SIT headed by SP rural, Sanjay Sharma, SDPO Nagrota Pardeep Kumar, SHO Nagrota inspector Vishav Partap and Sidhra police post in charge Majid Hussain has been formed to investigate the matter.