At a time when people are still reeling under the shock of the Delhi deaths, in which 11 members of a family were found hanging at their Burari home, here comes another case of suspected mass suicide. A family of six was found dead at their residence in Jharkhand's Hazaribagh on Sunday, July 15, morning.
The police have said that Mahavir Maheswari, 70, was found hanging from the ceiling of one of the rooms in their home, while his wife Kiran was found hanging in another room.
Mahavir's daughter-in-law Priti was found dead on a bed, his 10-year-old grandson Aman was lying on another bed with his throat slit and his seven-year-old granddaughter Annvi was found on a sofa with several pieces of cotton in her mouth.
Meanwhile, the 70-year-old's son Naresh Maheshwari is said to have jumped off the top floor of the building and the police believe that he was the last one to die. The police have also found a note written in Hindi, which says that Aman was "killed because he could not be hanged," reported Hindustan Times.
Six envelopes with suicide notes have been recovered from the house and the family has cited illnesses, financial woes, shop closure, borrowings, and disgrace as reasons behind the step. The police have examined the suicide notes and have said that Naresh's signature matches with that on his chequebook.
The bodies have now been sent for post-mortem.
"The investigation so far indicates that the family members committed suicide. As of now, we cannot rule out the possibility of murder as well," HT quoted Hazaribag SP Mayur Patel as saying.
"We found Naresh's body lying on the floor near the main gate of the apartment complex. It appears that Naresh, after ensuring that all members had died, came out of this flat, went on top of the building and jumped off from there."
The incident comes a fortnight after the Bhatia family was found hanging in Delhi's Burari area. The police are yet to solve the case and more bizarre details have been coming in each day. Investigators had found 11 registers in the house, which detailed how the family should carry out a ritual, which eventually led to their deaths.
One of the notes found in the registers recovered at the Delhi home reportedly spoke of "wandering souls" and how the family may "not see the next Diwali."
An entry made on November 11, 2017, spoke of "someone's mistakes" due to which the family was not able to "attain something," the Hindu quoted a police official as saying.
"Dhanteras aakar chali gayi. Kisi ki purani galti ke aabhaav se kuch prapti se door ho. Agli Diwali na mana sako. Chetavni ko nazar andaaz karne ke bajai gaur kiya karo. (Dhanteras has already been celebrated. You are far from achieving something due to someone's mistakes. There is a possibility that you might not see the next Diwali. Don't ignore the warnings)," the note reportedly reads.
After an investigation into the case, the police believe that the Burari family suffered from "shared psychosis," due to which they believed that the late father of Lalit Bhatia was speaking to them and wanted them to perform the ritual.
