The remains of two monks at the center of a murder-suicide mystery in Taiwan last week, were cremated in Taipei on Tuesday with the consent of their families from the mainland.

The two monks from the Nanjing-based Ling Gu Temple in Jiangsu Province were found died at a hotel in Hsinchu city last Wednesday. Police believe Chun Ru, 54, murdered Jing Ran, another monk, and then jumped to his death from the 13th floor of the hotel.

So far the motive for the murder-suicide remains unknown.

A monk with the Ling Gu Temple told Xinhua over the phone that the incident had made the monks of the temple sorrowful. "Jing Ran is a very nice person. He is also very nice to him (Ling Gu). I don't know how that could happen," said a monk who declined to give his name.

Jing Ran was abbot of the Ling Gu Temple, and Chun Ru was in charge of the temple's administrative affairs. They were with another four monks in Taiwan for a visit at the invitation of the Hsuan Chuang Cultural and Educational Foundation.

The ashes of the two monks will be brought back to the mainland on Wednesday, Zhu Huaining, director of the Nanjing Ethnic and Religious Affairs Bureau, told Xinhua.

Zhu was with a six-member team from the mainland sent to investigate the deaths and handle the aftermath. The team was comprised of a senior Buddhist leader from the Jiangsu provincial capital, Nanjing, family members and two religious affairs officials.

Zhu said the team had listened to a police report. "We think the police investigation is comprehensive...family members (of the monks) have no disagreement."

Zhu said police had completed an autopsy with the consent of the monks' family members.

According to Taiwan police, Jing Ran had been dead for some time before Chun Ru killed himself. There was no evidence that there was a third person present when the crimes happened, Zhu said.

(Xinhua News Agency January 20, 2009)