The police Tuesday morning recovered four bodies, including three children, hanging outside a house which had been torched in the Kamburupitiya area in Matara.

According to reports, the four bodied of a father and his three children were discovered hanging from nooses tied to a bamboo pole stuck between two trees. 

It is believed that the father had murdered his three children by hanging them before committing suicide himself. 

A team of police officers were immediately dispatched to the location after the police emergency hotline had received information regarding a house on fire in the Beraliathura area in Kumburupitiya. 

Upon reaching the burning home, police officers discovered the four bodies including two girls and boy who had been ordained as a Buddhist monk. The hands of the three children were tied behind their backs, according to reports. 

The deceased have been identified as Wickramatunga Arachchi Pathiranage Priyantha (44), Wickramatunga Arachchi PathiranageKaushalya Sewwandi (16), Wickramatunga Arachchi Pathiranage Hiruni Sewwandika (10) and Ransegoda Mangala Thero (14). 

The young Buddhist monk had only visited his home from the Temple on that fateful day, Ada Derana reporter said. 

The bodies are still under police custody while the magistrate’s inquiry and postmortem examinations are to be carried out today (27). 

Kamburupitiya Police is conducting an investigation.