Father, son seldom interacted with neighbours, lived a discreet life.
“After the death of his wife and daughter, Bansalji was in depression. There was a drastic change in his behaviour,” said Rachna’s mother. Rachna was employed with Bansal as a maid for the last one year.
Last time, when Satyabala and Neha had hung themselves, Rachna and Aarti were present inside the house and had informed the security guards, who had then informed the police.
On Tuesday, the scene at Flat No. 3B of Neelkanth Apartments was a rewind of sorts for 16-year-old Rachna who had earlier discovered the bodies of Bansal’s wife and daughter in the flat. And on Tuesday, she was the first to witness the bodies of Bansal and his son Yogesh in the flat. She ran out to inform the security guards and fainted.
Neighbours and RWA members were shocked to know about this development. Those who had interacted with Bansal recently said that he had come to terms with the deaths of his wife and daughter.
“I had met him a few days after the suicides of his wife and daughter and he was saying that an astrologer had told him that there would be trouble for his family. He was in shock after that tragedy but he was trying to move on,” Raghubir Singh, the complex manager, said.
The neighbours said that Bansal and his family hardly interacted with their neighbours, as they lived a very discreet life.
“When his wife and daughter were alive, we would seldom talk to them. But after they passed away, we rarely saw Yogesh and his father outside the home. The family mostly kept to themselves,” said a resident of the complex.
Bansal and Yogesh had returned to Delhi from their hometown Hisar around 15-20 days ago after finishing the religious rites of Satyabala and Neha. Raghubir said that Bansal had visited the complex office to pay the maintenance and electricity bill.
“Bansal had come to the office and had given me cash for paying the electricity bill. He had said that their accounts had been sealed and that’s why he was paying the amount in cash which is usually paid by a cheque,” Raghubir said.
Yogesh also told Raghubir that they would be living in the apartment now. Raghubir said that they had suggested Bansal to perform some puja at their house since his wife and daughter had died there. “He kept telling us that they had carried out all the formalities in Hisar and they had asked the pandit from a nearby temple to do the ‘Sunderkaand path’ every day at the temple for 51 days,” Raghubir said.
The pandit, Arvind Kumar Pandey, had visited Bansal’s house on Tuesday after he had returned from CBI questioning, Raghubir said.
“He had called the pandit around 6 pm and paid him Rs 2,100 and gave him packets of ghee for carrying out the pooja for his deceased wife and daughter. They had told the pandit that since they are leaving for Hisar for 15-days, they were giving him the money. Who knew that they were planning to kill themselves ” said Raghubir.
