Vasant Kunj deaths: Delhi Police to study Burari suicide case to probe 'occult practices' angle

New Delhi: The Delhi Police will study the 2018 Burari suicide case to see if there was any "occult practice" angle in the deaths of a man and his four daughters at a village in southwest Delhi's Vasant Kunj area, officials said on Sunday.

They said that the case had raised concerns as the team found a red threat tied on the waist, hand and neck of the four girls. A box of sweets was also recovered from the spot.

According to the police, Heera Lal Sharma, who worked as a carpenter at the Indian Spinal Injury Centre in Vasant Kunj for the last 28 years, and his four daughters -- Neetu (26), Nikki (24), Neeru (23) and Nidhi (20) -- took their lives under a suicide pact.

Police said that Sharma was struggling with emotional and financial stress after his wife died last year due to cancer.

Police said that they would study the 2018 Burari suicide case. "In 2018, 11 family members, blindfolded and mouth-taped were found dead at their residence in Burari area of north Delhi. In this recent case, we found five dead bodies -- a man and his four daughters, two of them differently-abled -- in their rented accommodation. Forensic teams during the initial check found a red thread (kalawa/mauli) tied on the waist, hand and neck. Our teams will check the records of the Burari case to connect the dots of this suicide."

"So far we got to know that Sharma had not spoken to anyone in the last nine months. He and his daughters were rarely seen outside. After his wife's death, the family had disconnected from everyone," a senior police officer said.

"The team recovered a box of sweets from the house and will also reach the sweets shop to check CCTV footage to know about his route, from where he purchased the celphos (poison) and why he took this extreme step," the officer said.

Sharma lived at a residential complex on the third floor of a four-storey building in Rangpuri village. Each floor houses eight flats and a majority of them were on rent, officer said.

The bodies, found on Friday afternoon, did not have any injury marks. Police found three packets of Celphos poison, five glasses and a spoon containing a suspicious liquid from the house.

The neighbours claimed they last saw Sharma and his daughters on Tuesday. CCTV footage of the day has also been recovered from outside the lane in which Sharma was seen going in the house with a packet in his hand.

Police said the bodies were found after the neighbours complained about a foul smell emanating from the flat on the third floor of the building.

The DCP said building owner Nitin Chauhan was informed about the smell by the caretaker, following which he knocked on the door but got no response.

The police broke open the door with the help of a fire brigade team and found Sharma lying dead in one of the rooms, while the bodies of his four daughters were found in another room, the officer said.

Sharma used to earn around Rs 25,000 per month but had not gone to work since January, the officer said.

Sharma's brother Mohan and sister-in-law Gudiya reached the house after being informed about the incident. They said Sharma was depressed after his wife died and used to remain preoccupied with his daughters' treatment.

Gudiya told reporters that Sharma's daughters were good in studies and were from science, commerce and arts backgrounds.

"The postmortem will be conducted on Monday by the board of doctors. We will be able to tell the actual reason for death after the postmortem. We have formed multiple teams to know the reason behind suicide. We are also checking CCTV footage of the area and adjoining area to know with who Sharma had last spoken to and if he had shared anything with them. We are also checking mobile phones records of all the victims to know if they were in contact with anyone," Deputy Commissioner of Police (southwest) Rohit Meena said.

Inquest proceedings under section 194 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) have been initiated and a medical board has been formed for the postmortem examinations.