mumbai the incessant wailing of the pet cat on the window sill told neighbours something was wrong when police were called in and broke into vishnu desais santa cruz apartment on wednesday they found the decomposing bodies of the 57yearold indian airlines officer his wife their 19yearold daughter and the housemaidbaffled by what appeared to be a collective suicide by poison and no traces of violence in the bedroom police only said they suspected a huge family brawl could have led to the ghastly deaths about 36 hours beforethe bodies of vishnu desai his wife ratna and daughter vidya were together in the bedroom begining to turn blue and froth stuck to the lips the body of nanda the familys 30yearold maid was found sprawled in the kitchen five cats that were in the desai household survivedpolice said there was no suicide note and initial interrogation of neighbours shed no light on the motive although many residents in the neighbourhood described the desais as a reclusive familydesai was a senior superintendent in the indian airlines cargo department and his wife was a state government employee vidya was in the 12th grade and wanted to be a movie star a dream shared by many mumbai girls police said the last person to speak to her was a male friend who would be interrogated by police laterdeputy commissioner bipin kumar singh who took charge of the area on the same day told reporters that further investigations were on and an autopsy would present a clearer picturedesai was goodnatured besides being regular at work he was an excellent coworker and had been working with ia for over 20 years said an ia employee and desais colleague recollecting a dance performance given by vidya as a kid he said that she was exceptionally beautiful and talentedvidya was an aspiring actress and had even cleared one screen test said a neighbour she attended college and was studying in the xii standard but was not seen around much in the colonyresidents echoed similar opinions about ratna who was rarely seen at home the maid servant nanda had been living with the family for over a decade she was usually the only person present at home since desai would return quite late in the night said another neighbour who declined to give his name the family had been living at the indian airlines complex in kalina for more than 15 yearsmeanwhile building 26b where the family had their apartment was mobbed by curious neighbours and reporters the desai home had been locked since monday evening with copies of newspapers and milk packets lying at the doorstepspan