The Agripada police said Bharthi Bhanshali threw her daughter, Priyanka, down around 1.15 pm and then followed herself. The loud thud of the bodies hitting the ground was heard by the entire staff on the ground floor. An eyewitness said when he reached the spot he saw Bharthi and Priyanka lying in a thick pool of blood just five feet apart from each other. He said the girl was alive when he picked her up. Both mother and daughter were rushed to the B Y L Nair Hospital, barely 100 meters from the accident spot, by the office staff. While Bharthi was declared dead on admission, Priyanka succumbed to her injuries a few minutes later.

Some railway employees saidthey saw Bharthi going up the flight of stairs leading to the terrace with her daughter during the lunch break. She was calm and composed and even spoke to a few colleagues.

Investigating officer, Inspector Maruti Naik, said Bharthi had come to the office well prepared. On Friday she had kept her pass book and some other important documents in her drawer. While police do not yet know what this indicated, a colleague said Bharthi never left such important documents in the office. Her brother Vipin, to whom she left the suicide note, was shell-shocked when this reporter met him. ``My sister asked me not to be angry or hold grudge against anybody. I don't suspect any foul play,'' he said.

Bharthi, a head clerk in the Establishment Branch at the Divisional Office, used to work on the ground floor. Physically deformed (left leg), she was inducted into service in 1982. A Virar resident, she married Chandreshbhai Ramnikbhai Bhanshali four years ago. Her husband is employed in a switch gear factory atGoregaon.

``It is not yet clear what prompted the woman to kill herself and her daughter. There has to be a motive, probably a family dispute,'' said an investigating officer.