Suicide or murder? 5 unanswered questions over the death of 11 of a family in Burari in Delhi

NEW DELHI: In a shocking case on Sunday morning, eleven members of the Bhatiya family in Burari in Delhi were found dead under mysterious circumstances. While ten bodies were found hanging from the roof in the courtyard of the house, the body of Narayana, a 75-year-old woman, was found on the floor. The bodies were blindfolded and gagged.

Of the victims, there were two brothers Bhupinder and Lalit Singh with the former running a grocery store and the latter was a carpenter. Both operated their businesses from their family home. "Their shop would open by 6 a.m. every morning but when it did not till 7.30 a.m. today, a neighbour checked and found the main door of their residence open, prompting him to inform the police," Joint Commissioner of Police Rajesh Khurana.

The police are leaving nothing to chance and are investigating the case both from the angle of a suicide as well as murder. However, the main questions in the probe are likely to be:

1 - What can be the motive if this was a mass murder?
2 - The doors of the house were open but why was no theft or loot, if that was the motive?
3 - What can be the motive if this was a case of mass suicide?
4- As per the neighbours, the family was not under any financial or mental stress, so could it be a suicide? Neighbours say that Narayana's granddaughter was engaged and was due to get married in a few days and hence the house was buzzing with preparations for the wedding.
5 - The family had sold one of their shops a few days back which meant that they had enough money in hand too hence were unlikely to be in a condition of any financial stress.

75-year-old Narayana was the only one who was strangled to death, the bodies of the rest were found hanging from the roof of the courtyard in the house. Others who were found dead include her daughter, two sons and daughters in law; two kids of both the sons; and one child of the daughter. The dead have been identified as 75-year-old woman Narayana, 60-year-old Pratibha, 30-year-old Priyanka, 46-year-old Bhupi, 42-year-old Savita, 24-year-old Neetu, 18-year-old Meenu, 12-year-old Dhruv, 42-year-old Lalit, 38-year-old Tina, 12-year-old Shivam.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal visits #Burari where bodies of 11 people were found at a house, earlier today, says, "police investigation is underway." pic.twitter.com/RrHjqg0LVZ — ANI (@ANI) July 1, 2018

Police have begun the investigation into the case. "We did not find any suicide note. We have sent the bodies for post mortem to ascertain the cause of deaths. Some of them were found hanging from an iron grill ceiling while others were lying on the floor blindfolded with their hands and legs tied," the Joint CP said.

"Prima facie, we suspect they committed suicide but we are also investigating the case with other possible angles of homicide as well as we are not ruling out anything. We are also checking the CCTV footages," he added.

(Reporter inputs by Jitender Sharma)