Burari Family Suicide: Cops Still Clueless As Relatives Reject Mystical Practice Claim

11 oddly placed PVC pipes protruding out of the wall and 11 dead bodies are they somehow related? Police are not ruling out the possibility, but the relatives of the deceased family say no.

PTI

11 members of the same family in Delhi's Burari was found dead on Sunday in what appears to be a mass suicide. But the 11 pipes out of a wall of the house have been the talk of the town, linking it to occult practices.

Four pipes were straight while seven were bent. People assumed that this was some kind of symbolism to denote there were four men and seven women in the house. A bent pipe was located at some distance from the rest, near the floor. Locals speculated if the family created these for the spirits to go free.

PTI

But according to the contractor who recently renovated the house, Lalit, the owner of the house had asked him to install these outlets for ventilation and use PVC pipes in the holes as a makeshift arrangement.

The deceased have been identified as Narayan Devi (77), her two sons Bhavnesh (50) and Lalit (45), her daughters-in-law Savita (48) and Teena (42), her daughter Pratibha (57), her grandchildren Priyanka (33), Nitu (25), Monu (23), Dhruv (15) and Shivam (15). All except Devi were found hanging blindfolded, while she was found lying on the floor, blindfolded. The family used to run a grocery shop and plywood business in the locality for the past many years.

PTI

Another hint that has led the cops to believe that the suicides were linked to some mystical practice is the discovery of a note apparently written by Lalit, over the years.

It paints the picture of a man in delusion, who hallucinates his father who died 10 years ago.

He believed his father Gopaldas wanted to lead the family to salvation and had been writing down "instructions" for it.

The note also hints that the family had planned the suicided in advance and even had practised for it.

"The notes repeatedly mentioned about performing ¡®vat tapasya¡¯ (worshipping the banyan tree). It made special mention of worshipping the hanging roots of the banyan tree. As per the notes, the ritual performers were to hang in a formation that would replicate the hanging roots of a banyan tree,¡± an investigator said.

PTI

Police now believe the family attempted suicide convinced that they won't die and that they will be saved somehow.

There are also reports that the cops are on the lookout for a godman, whom the family was allegedly in touch and may have pushed them to take their lives.

PTI

However, locals and some relatives have questioned the direction of the police probe and alleged that there was a cover-up attempt by the cops.

They also said that the family was very religious and used to pray twice or sometimes thrice and ruled out the possibility of them committing suicide over occult practices.