Police say the girl, Saroj, a resident of Khajuwala village, hacked her mother, Radha, sisters Sharada (12), Kiran (10) and Gogi (eight), and brother Mangi Lal (two) to death on the night of July 24 while her father, Mani Ram, was away watering his farm.

The girl, according to district police superintendent Rajeev Dasot, told the police that she killed them because her family ``prevented'' her from having a relationship with a man of her choice.

Dasot claimed that Saroj hid the axe after committing the murders and wiped her bloodstained footprints off the floor. In an FIR, Saroj's father has said that a 20-year-old man, Makhan, who allegedly had ``sexual relations'' with Saroj was behind the murders. But police said Makhan was 150 km away when the murders took place. Mani Ram's licensed gun was also found missingfrom the house along with its bullets.

Dasot said that Saroj confessed that she wanted to ``punish'' her family for opposing her relationship with Makhan. Police say that father had beaten her and threatened to kill Makhan whose family then sent him away. Saroj had thrown her father's gun in a well so that ``he could not kill him,'' police said. Dasot said Saroj hid the axe after committing the murders.