NEW DELHI, July 2:
The post-mortem of eight of the 11 people, who were found dead at their house in north Delhi’s Burari locality, has revealed there were no signs of struggle and all of them died as a result of hanging, a senior police officer said today.
Eleven members of a family, including seven women and two children, were found dead under mysterious circumstances at their residence yesterday.
The post-mortem of eight persons, including the two children and their grandmother Narayan Devi, has been carried out and so far, police have not found any signs of strangulation or scuffle, according to the officer.
Ten of those dead were found hanging from an iron-mesh in the ceiling for ventilation, while the body of 77-year-old Narayan was lying on the floor in another room of the house.
Earlier, it was suspected that Narayan died due to strangulation. But doctors have said that she had died due to “partial hanging”, the officer said, adding that a rope was found hanging near her body.
It is being probed who took out the rope from her neck, he said.
“From initial examination it seems that they all died due to ante-mortem hanging. The final report is awaited,” the officer said.
Police suspect that the deaths were part of a suicide pact, carried out in accordance with a religious practice, as handwritten notes found on the spot indicated.
Some of the notes stated that “one will not die” but attain something “great”, the officer said.
Those who were found hanging had their mouth taped and their faces covered with cloth pieces cut from a single bed sheet. Only Narayan’s face was not covered.
The bodies will be handed over to the family for last rites later in the day.
The deceased were identified as Narayan, who was found dead on the floor, her daughter Pratibha (57), her two sons Bhavnesh (50) and Lalit Bhatia (45).
Bhavnesh’s wife Savita (48) and their three children – Meenu (23), Nidhi (25) and Dhruv (15) were among the deceased.
Lalit Bhatia’s wife Tina (42) and their 15-year-old son Shivam were also among those found dead along with Pratibha’s daughter Priyanka (33), who was engaged last month and supposed to get married this year end.
Locals had said Meenu was preparing for entrance exams and Nidhi was pursuing her Masters.
Except for Devi, the others were found hanging from the iron-mesh in the ceiling, police said. (PTI)
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