11 of family found dead in Delhi home, police to probe ''occult'' angle

Prateek Chauhan

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Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 1

Eleven members of a family, including seven women and two minors, were found dead under mysterious circumstances at their Sant Nagar residence in north Delhi’s Burari on Sunday, with the police suspecting that the family followed some religious practice to “attain salvation”.

Ten bodies were found hanging and blindfolded, while Narayan Devi (77) was found dead in a room.

According to a member of the Delhi Police Forensic team, the food consumed by the family the previous night was laced with some sedative. The team suspects that one member of the family killed all others and before doing so, that person took the dog to the terrace and tied it there so that it didn’t bark. After committing the crime, that person also committed suicide.

The body of the aged Narayan Devi bore strangulation marks on the neck. Her widowed daughter, Pratibha (57), had perhaps gained consciousness while being hanged and hence her throat was slit by the killer, investigators believe.

There was no sign of any forced entry into the house. Even the footage of the CCTV camera installed outside the house showed no one entering the house that night. No suicide note has been found so far.

The killer might have first laced food with some sedative and when all members of the family fell unconscious, he tied their hands and legs and covered their faces so that if any of them regained consciousness, he/she was not able to raise an alarm, a senior officer privy to the probe said. Rajesh Khurana, Joint CP (Central Range), said, “We are not ruling out any possibility. Some rare pattern has been identified on which our investigation is progressing.

Even the possibility of family enmity is being probed.” Another officer said the cash lying in the house was not touched. As the feet of some of those hanged were touching the floor, it seemed they were first killed.

Neighbour Navneet Batra said, “I cannot believe that the family would commit suicide. All of them were very gentle and religious and before going to sleep, they would all offer prayers every night.”

Another neighbour Ketan Nagpal said Narayan Devi had been living there for 23 years with her widowed daughter and two sons. The family, which owned a grocery shop and ran a plywood business, had been living peacefully in their double-storey house at Sant Nagar, Burari.

“Their shop would open by 6 am every day. When it did not open till 7.30 am on Sunday, a neighbour went in to enquire. He was shocked to see most of the family members hanging from the grill ceiling,” the police said.

The family hailed from Chittorgarh in Rajasthan. One of Narayan Devi’s sons, a civil contractor,  still lives there. He 

has been informed about the incident. Additional DGP Vinit Kumar said some handwritten notes were found in the house that pointed to observance of some mystical practices by the family.

Later in the day, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari visited the site of the incident to take stock of the situation.

The deceased were identified as Narayan Devi (77), her two sons Bhavnesh (50) and Lalit (45), her daughter-in-laws Savita (48) and Teena (42), her daughter Pratibha (57), and her grandchildren Priyanka (33), Nitu (25), Monu (23), Dhruv (15) and Shivam (15).

Similar cases in past

MarcH 1, 2016 A man slit throats of 14 of own family in cold blood and hung himself at Kasarwadavli village in Thane. He had lost Rs 2 cr in share-trading

May 15, 2016  Five of a family, including four kids, murdered in Bhind. Teacher held for murders, extra-marital affair suspected 

October 6, 2017 An 82-year-old woman, three daughters and guard were murdered at their house in New Delhi. Five robbers were held