Burari horror: Cops rule out murder angle, outsider role

New Delhi: Three days after the horrific mass suicide in Burari recently, security footage has established that there is “no outside role” in the deaths. The evidence indicates that the family didn’t expect to die, but had believed they would “emerge stronger” after a bizarre mass ritual, the police said on Wednesday.

The police has also recovered scribblings in 11 diaries written down  over a period of 11 years.

As per the latest report, the Delhi police crime branch received clinching evidence to rule out the possibility of murder in the case. The preliminary probe had shown the possibility of a spiritual angle in the deaths. That suspicion is almost confirmed now, sources said. The dairy entries found at the crime site show the Bhatia family was supposed to perform “some other pooja”, but died while performing it.

One camera footage of the house’s entrance shows a woman and two children bringing in stools and wires used in the mass “hangings”. All the members apparently died together around 1 am.

Another CCTV footage shows that two of the deceased, Nitu and her mother, taking plastic stools inside the house hours around 10 pm (time of death). It further shows that the minors took a wire from plywood shop at 10.20pm. It also shows Dhruv (12) and Shivam (15) going to a furniture store downstairs and bringing up the wires used in the hangings. Their parents tied them up, the police alleged.

The footage also gives glimpses of a family voluntarily following the instructions of a man allegedly possessed — Lalit, the younger son of the 77-year-old matriarch Narayani Devi. The diary notes were his and indicate that he hallucinated about his dead father advising him on salvation. Another person, Lalit’s niece Priyanka, 30, also wrote in the diaries.

The police recovered 11 diaries from the site. The diaries have been written down from June 5, 2013 to June 30, 2018. Lalit’s father had died 11 years ago, years before the scribblings seem to have been written down.

The diary notes show that the family may have thought the spirit of Lalit’s father would save them.

The last sentence in the final diary read: “...keep water in a cup, when it changes colour, I will appear and save you.” After the “ritual”, everyone was to untie one another.

Priyanka, who got engaged around 15 days ago, was “manglik” and the family was facing problems because of her “dosh”. They believed that these ‘poojas’ she would receive her grandfather’s blessings.  

They were all blindfolded, gagged and bound, all except Lalit’s wife, Tina, who may have tied up all the others. Narayani Devi, was found sprawled on the floor, also from hanging. Nine members had shared five stools, the police said.