Pune, Jan 25 (IANS): In a startling revelation, the Pune Police said that the seven bodies fished out of the Bheema River in the past one week, may have been victims of a macabre case of 'mass murder' and four persons have been nabbed here on Wednesday.

As per preliminary investigations, the motive behind the murders, a senior citizen couple, their daughter, son-in-law and three grandchildren, is believed to be a family feud arising out of certain superstitions.

The development came after the Pune Police had retrieved the bodies from different locations in the vicinity of Yavat village in the Bheema River at Daund for six days from January 18-23.

They were described as labourers from Beed who had settled in a village in Parner in adjoining Ahmednagar district.

The victims Mohan Uttam Pawar, his wife Sangita Pawar, daughter Rani Shyam Phulware, her husband Shyam Phulware, and their three children.

The first body of a woman was spotted by locals on January 18, and after a search in the river with motorboats and divers scanning several hundred metres, the remaining victims were brought out over the next six days.

Even as the incident sent shock among people in the three districts, the Pune Police cracked into action by setting up multiple probe teams and managed to solve the case by arresting four suspects, currently in detention.