Bhubaneswar: A couple was found dead under mysterious circumstances in their tea stall alongside National Highway (NH)-16 in Odisha’s Ganjam district today.

The deceased have been identified as Dillip Dalei and his wife Rashmita Dalei of Langaleswar village under Khallikot police limits in Ganjam.

According to villagers, Dillip had tied the knot with Rashmita of nearby Kandeigaon around a decade ago. The couple was blessed with two kids.

Dillip was running a tea stall alongside the NH-16 in his village while Rashmita was working as a Krushi Mitra under Odisha Livelihoods Mission (OLM).

Dillip was unhappy with Rashmita after she took up the Krushi Mitra job and the couple used to quarrel over this issue, villagers said.

The couple stayed back in their tea stall last night while their children were away in Rashmita’s native place.

The husband-wife duo was found dead in their tea stall today morning. Dillip’s body was lying on the floor while Rashmita was found hanging from the roof.

On being informed, a police team comprising Chhatrapur SDPO Goura Hari Sahu, Khallikot IIC Naresh Kumar Sahu and Vegiput outpost in-charge Debashis Mishra reached the spot and launched a probe into the incident.

The police seized the bodies in the presence of Khallikot Additional Tehsildar Ajay Kumar Swain and sent them for postmortem. They reportedly found a suicide note from the spot.

“Preliminary investigation has suggested that the couple died by suicide. However, we are looking into all aspects,” said Khallikot IIC.

Family members, meanwhile, alleged that the couple might have been killed by some miscreants. They urged the police to find out the real reason behind the couple’s death.