A-36-year-old woman smothered her sick daughter and committed suicide by hanging at Akshayanagar in Yalahanka New Town on Tuesday night.

The deceased have been identified as Priya (36), wife of Suresh Babu, a civil engineer, and her daughter Prathiksha (9). They are residents of Attur Layout near Akshaynagar. The Yelahanka New Town police booked Priya from murdering her daughter and committing suicide.

Police also suspect that her husband did not spend time with them, forcing the woman to kill her daughter and commit suicide.

Police said that Suresh Babu is a native of Madurai in Tamil Nadu. The family shifted to Bengaluru three months ago and was staying in a rented house. Priya was a homemaker. Prathiksha was in Class 3 and her brother Akash was studying I PUC. Due to work pressure, Babu was unable to spend time with family and the couple used to quarrel over it frequently.

Parthiksha was also suffering from an ailment and showed no improvement despite treatment. She was also unable attend school due to illness. This made Priya depressed.

On Tuesday evening, when nobody was at home, Priya smothered her daughter to death with a pillow and hanged herself from the ceiling fan. The incident came to light around 9.30 pm, when Akash came home. He immediately alerted his father. The police reached the spot and shifted both bodies to Ambedkar Hospital and detained Suresh Babu for questioning.