A family of four, including two minor children, allegedly died of suicide in their Hyderabad apartment on Friday night, police said on Saturday, adding that the family was reportedly distraught over their kids’ ill-health and may have formed a suicide pact.

According to the police, 39-year-old Satish—a software engineer by profession—his wife Vedha and the couple’s two minor children, Nishiketh (9) and Nihal (5), were found dead in their apartment in the Kushaiguda area of Hyderabad city.

They said the incident is suspected to have taken place on Friday night but the police received information on Saturday afternoon and a team was rushed to the scene which took custody of the bodies.

Giving details, an official said the family of four committed suicide by ingesting an unknown poison and preliminary investigations have revealed that the both their children suffered from some sort of mental illness.

The official said the now-deceased kids were under treatment but weren’t showing any signs of relief from their illness and as such the family had become distraught and resorted to taking the extreme step, adding that the family are suspected to have committed suicide on Friday night but the police received information about the incident at around 2 pm on Saturday.

He said that Satish’s brother-in-law Manikanta asked the building’s security guard to check on the family after he failed to reach the couple despite repeated attempts since Saturday morning.

The guard found the family car still parked in the parking area and after receiving no response on ringing the door bell, he managed to peek through a window and found them inside, however the family wasn’t moving and the guard and some neighbours climbed onto another balcony and managed to enter the family’s flat from the back door.

The neighbors and the security found the family lying dead in their apartment, Satish was found leaning against a wall in a sitting posture while Veda and the two children were lying dead in the bed.

The official said that the bodies of the victims have been shifted to the mortuary, adding that an investigation is underway to shed more light onto the incident and a case under section 174 of the CrPC has been registered in this regard.

A US-based Indian journalist alleged verbal abuse and physical assault by Khalistan supporters while he was covering a pro-Khalistan protest outside the Indian Embassy in Washington on Saturday afternoon.

In a tweet on Sunday, Washington-based Indian scribe, Lalit Jha, while sharing a video of the altercation, alleged that he was hit on his left ear with sticks by Khalistan supporters as he was covering the protest.

Jha also thanked US Secret Service for protecting him, and helping him do his job.

Speaking to news agency ANI, Jha said he mulled calling 911 as he feared for his physical safety but luckily spotted some Secret Service officers and narrated the incident to them.

Narrating his ordeal, Jha said that pro-Khalistan protesters waving Khalistan flags descended upon the Indian Embassy in presence of the US Secret Service. The protesters raised slogans in favour of fugitive Waris Punjab De chief Amritpal Singh and Khalistan, threatened to vandalize the embassy premises and even issued threats to Indian Ambassador Taranjit Singh Sandhu.

According to reports, turbaned men of all ages from various parts of the DC-Maryland-Virginia (DMV) area, descended upon the embassy and shouted anti-India slogans and pro-Khalistani speeches on microphones while also accusing the Punjab Police of human rights violations during their ongoing search for Amritpal Singh.

The Indian Embassy in a statement condemned the incident saying that the attack on Jha highlights the “the violent and anti-social tendencies of the so-called ‘Khalistani protestors’ and their supporters, who routinely engage in wanton violence and vandalism.”

The embassy said that Jha—a senior journalist working for the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency—was “verbally intimidated and then physically assaulted”. The embassy also thanked US law enforcement agencies for their prompt response.

Over the past week, Khalistan supporters have staged multiple protests outside the Indian embassy and the San Francisco Consulate—which also came under attack on March 20.

Ten associates of fugitive pro-Khalistan leader Amritpal Singh were sent to judicial custody till April 6 by a court in Punjab on Saturday even as the hunt to nab the radical Sikh preacher entered Day 9 today.

A court in Punjab’s Ajnala sentenced the Waris Punjab De chief 10 aides to judicial remand till April 6, while another accused, Sukhpreet Singh was remanded to a four-day police custody, in the case related to the storming of a police station by Khalistan supporters on February.

Amritpal’s aides are accused of storming the Ajnala police station on February 23 in a bid to break free an associate arrested for an alleged kidnapping.

A senior police official said that on February 23, thousands of supporters of notorious separatist leader Amritpal Singh, armed with guns and sharp-edged weapons, stormed the Ajnala Police Station and clashed with the cops, in a bid to secure the release of one of their associates, Lovepreet Toofan, who was arrested in an alleged abduction case.

He said the pro-Khalistan supporters smashed the barricades outside the station and stormed inside.

Police registered an FIR after the brazen incident and launched a manhunt to nab the outfit’s chief Amritpal Singh.

On Friday, Delhi Police and Punjab Police launched a search operation for Amritpal in Delhi and its border in view of the possibility of him entering the national capital.

Recently, videos of the ‘Waris Punjab De’ chief’s private militia christened ‘Anandpur Khalsa Force’ or AKF, emerged on social media platforms.

Visuals doing the rounds on social media show the members of notorious Khalistan sympathizers private army donning body armor emblazoned with the AKF logo, undergoing weapons training in a forested area, which is reportedly a make-shift shooting range constructed in Amritpal Singh’s native village of Jallupur Khera.

According to the Punjab Police, Amritpal’s former gunman, Tejinder Singh Gill alias Gorkha Baba, revealed during questioning that the ‘Waris Punjab De’ supremo ran a highly organized network to train recruits in his protection force, with extensive weapons training and target practice.

Tejinder told the police that Amritpal Singh had formed a private militia called the Anandpur Khalsa Force or AKF who underwent extensive arms training at a makeshift shooting range in the Jallupur Khera village.