A 51-year-old man and his son, 19, allegedly killed six members of their family, including the man’s nephew and niece aged 11 and five, on Thursday in a village in Lucknow’s Banthara area. Police said the accused, Ajay Singh, surrendered at Banthara police station.

Late on Thursday night, ACP Deepak Singh said, “The son, Avaneesh (19) has also been arrested. During questioning, we found that Ajay killed two of the victims, while Avaneesh killed the other four.”

A police officer said the son told them about a country-made pistol. “He has told us where it is kept. A team is going to recover that,” said the officer. A police officer said that the murders were done with a sickle and a countrymade pistol.

Police identified the victims as Amar Singh (70), Ram Dulari (68), parents of the accused (Ajay); his brother Arun Singh (45) and (Arun’s) wife Ram Sakhi (40), their children Saurabh (11) and Sarika (5).

A statement issued by the Lucknow Police said, “Ajay Singh has said that his father Amar Singh had a relationship with his daughter-in-law and used to spend his earnings on her. He (accused) also said his father gave all the money that came from selling farmland to his sister-in-law. and he struggled for money. He has also said that he feared that his father would give their entire property to the brother.””

Lucknow Police Commissioner Sujeet Pandey, who visited the spot, told mediapersons, “The incident happened around 7 pm and the police got to know at 7:20 pm.” A probe was on, police said.