Nine bodies found in a well in Telangana, India, last week, was revealed to be a cover-up by the accused for a previous murder.
The 24-year-old man was arrested on Monday for murdering nine people in Telangana's Warangal district.
The bodies of six from a family and three others - two from Bihar and one from Tripura - were found in a well in a village about 150 kilometres from state's capital Hyderabad.
Police have revealed that the perpetrator killed them to cover up the murder of a woman who went missing in March. She was related to the family that was killed.
Sanjay Kumar Yadav, the accused, killed all nine of them after spiking their food with sleeping pills and then throwing them in a well.
It was reported that Yadav had allegedly murdered the woman on March 6.
The deceased were identified as Maqsood, his wife Nisha, and their four children - a migrant family from West Bengal.
Officials said seven of those found dead were migrant workers employed at a jute bag-stitching unit.
Maqsood was a 48-year-old man who migrated from West Bengal over 20 years ago and had settled down in Warangal. His family had been staying in two rooms on the premises of the unit, police sources reportedly said.
Maqsood's wife had reportedly threatened Yadav, who is from Bihar, about reporting the missing woman to the police.
Indian media reports stated that when the bodies were found initially, a possibility of mass suicide was not ruled out as no major injury marks were found. People believed that the family might have committed mass suicide due to their financial state amidst the coronavirus lockdown in the country.
Later, scratch marks on the bodies led the six special teams to the alleged killer who is said to have confessed to the murders.
