LOS ANGELES, Oct 6: Four Indians kidnapped in California have been found murdered. The four of a Sikh family, identified as Jasdeep Singh (36), his wife Jasleen Kaur (27), their 8-month-old daughter Aroohi Dheri and the child's uncle Amandeep Singh (39), were abducted on Monday.

Kidnapped at gunpoint from their new trucking business in Merced in central California, the Sikhs' bodies were found in a county orchard not far on Wednesday evening local time (Thursday morning IST). (Merced city is the county seat of Merced County.)

Merced city is 200 km south-east of San Francisco.

The police who had launched a search on Monday said the assailant was a convicted robber, Jesus Salgado, 48, of Atwater. (Atwater is also a city in Merced County, 13 km from Merced city.) He is currently in hospital for treatment of possibly self-inflicted injuries of attempted suicide as the police came and is under sedation. He had admitted to the crime to his family members who called the cops. No motive has been identified. There is no proof yet if the family he killed was previously known to him. Investigators believe a second person is involved.

Nothing was stolen from the company except a victim's ATM card. In fact, all of the victims were wearing jewellery. Their hands were tied up before they were led out of their premises. There was no ransom demand, victims' relatives said. “My husband is very peaceful and calm person. We don’t have any clue why they kidnapped them,” said Jaspreet Kaur, wife of the uncle among the victims.

The kidnapping incident was captured in a surveillance video which the police have released.

The victims had hailed from Hoshiarpur in Punjab.