Three members of a family, a middle-aged man, his wife and their son, were found hanging in a staff quarters at the Utkal University premises here early on Wednesday morning.
The deceased were identified as Brajabandhu Acharya, a laboratory assistant in the Statistics Department of the Utkal University, his wife Pratibha and son Biswajit.
They were found hanging in the garage of the quarters G-20. The exact reason for the deaths was yet to be ascertained.
Brajabandhu Acharya had two children, a son and daughter. The elder daughter is married in Angul and the son was running a travel business.
According to sources, the Acharya couple was under severe mental pressure as Biswajit had taken a huge amount, reportedly `60 lakh, from friends and other sources, to run a secondhand vehicle business, which turned out to be unsuccessful. After this, Biswajit left home for two months before returning a month ago.
After his return, those who had lent him money demanded repayment.
Sources said that Biswajit had committed some lenders to repay their money on Wednesday. As he failed to arrange the funds, he along with his parents, decided on a suicide pact being unable to bear the shame of not keeping the promise, the sources added.
Meanwhile, the Saheed Nagar police along with a scientific team have started investigation into the triple death.
Colleagues and neighbourers described Brajabandhu as a perfect gentleman and demanded an impartial inquiry into the tragic incident.