Nepalgunj, March 10:

Acquaintances of the Hemkar family were involved in the murder of family members and their domestic helper, police said after launching preliminary investigation, adding that the murder was not the handiwork of looters as they did not take gold and ornaments worth thousands of rupees away from the house.

A gang had murdered four members of the family and a helper on Tuesday night.

DSP Basanta Lama said a team from Kathmandu has been probing into the murder.

However, a security source suspected that the criminals might be at large since sniffer dogs could not go beyond the Bulbulaiya area of Banke.