The Delhi Police investigating the Burari deaths have questioned more than 20 relatives of the family in connection with the suspected suicide pact that claimed the lives of its 11 members. They are likely to rope in a psychiatrist to assist them in the inquiry.
The police had found handwritten notes pointing to “religious practices” by the family, and had also found that the family members had started following a Kondli-based godman. The investigators, however, found nothing substantial on that front and said on Tuesday they had ruled out the involvement of any self-styled godman.
The police have recovered a third register from the house with notes about “salvation”, “shunya” and “appeasing God”.
They also found some loose sheets of paper with notings from 2008, which indicated that Lalit Bhatia of the family had turned to spiritualism after his father’s death that year.
Those questioned by the police include the family matriarch Narayani Devi’s eldest son, her daughter and one of her deceased daughters-in-law’s sisters. The investigators, however, said all of them denied that the family indulged in “occult” practices.
READ | Autopsies hint at suicide by Burari family, says Police
There were also rumours that 11 rods found on top of the gate of the house had something to do with the case, though the police ruled it out.
The police are probing the Burari deaths as a case of “shared psychosis”.
PTI reported that a senior officer spoke to doctors from VIMHANS on Tuesday who also opined that it was a case of “shared psychosis”.
“Shared psychosis means that delusional beliefs are transmitted from one person to another. In this case, it is suspected that Lalit Bhatia, 45, was the one who had the delusion of talking to his father even after his death. And his beliefs were endorsed by other family members too,” said a police officer.
Read | Handwritten notes point to ‘religious practices’
They might rope in a psychiatrist to understand the psyche of the family.
On July 1, Sunday, 11 members of the Bhatia family were found dead in their Burari house. While the bodies of ten of them were hanging from an iron-mesh on the ceiling, that of 77-year-old Narayani Devi was lying on the floor in another room.
The deceased were Devi’s 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), Lalit Bhatia’s wife Tina (42) and their 15-year-old son Shivam, and Pratibha’s daughter Priyanka (33) who got engaged last month and was to get married by the end of this year.
The Crime Branch team inspected the spot once again on Tuesday and found the third register whose earliest entries were from 2011. The notes had psychological musings about “salvation”, “shunya” and “appeasing God”.
READ | No signs of struggle, says post-mortem report of six deceased
There were some other papers also found which indicated that Lalit had assumed his father’s alter ego and would often talk and behave like him. He would also observe ‘maun vrat’ sometimes.
Investigation revealed that Lalit and Tina were the ones who had convinced the family about performing the rituals to attain “salvation”.
While the family members questioned were clueless about this aspect, neighbours told the police that Dhruv had often mentioned it to children in the locality that “kaka par dada aate hain” (uncle is often possessed by grandfather’s spirit).
The crime branch team also spoke to the food delivery boy, who was the last person to see them alive when he went to deliver 20 rotis to the family on June 30. He said he had delivered 20 butter rotis and did not find anything unusual in the behaviour of anyone.
The questioning of the family members began from 10 am Tuesday at the Burari police station.
A Crime Branch team, led by a DCP-rank officer, questioned Narayan Devi’s eldest son, Dinesh, her daughter Sujata Nagpal and Priyanka’s fiance, besides Lalit’s wife Tina’s three sisters who stay in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.
According to the police, the sisters said Tina and Lalit worshipped God like any other person and there was nothing that would point towards their involvement in “occult” practices.
Some neighbours and distant relatives were questioned too.
Dinesh and Sujata too said the family did not follow any tantrik or godmen.
Priyanka’s fiance said he had found her a normal woman and nothing in her behaviour indicated that she was thinking of committing suicide. Their’s was an arranged match and the Bhatia family had not carried out any specific engagement rituals that would arouse suspicion, he told the police.
He also said he often spoke to Priyanka and discuss their wedding.
(With agency inputs)