Burari 2.0?: How Delhi's Vasant Kunj deaths where man poisoned his daughters unravelled

A 50-year-old man and his four daughters were found dead in their rented home in Delhi’s Vasant Kunj on Friday morning.

Police suspect it to be the case of a suicide pact.

The deaths have also drawn parallels to the infamous 2018 Burari case due to its mysterious circumstances.

Let’s take a closer look.

What do we know about the recent deaths?

The victims, identified as Hira Lal Sharma, the father, and his daughters Neetu (26), Nikki (24), Neeru (23), and Nidhi (20), lived in Rangpuri’s Chauhan Mohalla in a small one-BHK flat.

The bodies were discovered after neighbours reported a foul odour emanating from the flat. The building’s owner, Nitin Chauhan, alerted by the caretaker about the smell, knocked on the door, however, he received no response.

Subsequently, police forced entry with the assistance of a fire brigade and found Sharma in one room and his daughters in another. All five were foaming at the mouth. No external injuries were found on the bodies.

Three packets of poisonous Celphos, a highly toxic substance commonly used for controlling pests and rodents, along with five glasses and a spoon containing a suspicious liquid were found at the scene. A box of sweets was also recovered and sent for forensics.

CCTV footage showed Sharma entering the house on September 24 allegedly with a box of sweets. No one else did not enter or left the residence since then.

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Inquest proceedings under Section 194 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) have been initiated, and a medical board has been established for the post-mortem examinations.

“The post-mortem will be conducted on Monday by the board of doctors. We will be able to tell the actual reason for death after the post-mortem. We have formed multiple teams to know the reason behind suicide. We are also checking CCTV footage of the area and adjoining areas to know with whom Sharma had last spoken and if he had shared anything with them. We are also checking mobile phone records of all the victims to know if they were in contact with anyone,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southwest) Rohit Meena said.

Why did the deaths revive the memories of the Burari case?

Concerns arose when forensic teams during the initial check found a box of sweets at the scene and kalawa (a sacred red and yellow thread) tied on the waist, hand, and neck of the four daughters.

These details drew an uncanny resemblance to the Burari suicide case, where 11 members of a family, blindfolded and mouth-taped, were found dead at their residence.

There were also reports of the Delhi Police examining the 2018 case to determine if there is any connection to “occult practices” in the recent deaths in southwest Delhi.

However, issuing a statement later, according to India Today, Deputy Commissioner of Police, South West, has denied such theories and stated that they will soon be sharing updates about the investigation with the media.

Also read:  A look at the Delhi 'gas chamber' deaths, Burari horror, and other chilling stories of suicide pacts

So, is occult practice involved?

Not sure.

The deceased Hira Lal Sharma was reportedly struggling with emotional and financial stress.

A carpenter by profession, he had worked at the Indian Spinal Injuries Centre (ISIC) in Vasant Kunj for almost 28 years before abruptly quitting in January.

He lived with his four daughters, who were all graduates. While the police confirmed that the youngest sisters were differently abled, neighbours say that all four daughters had disabilities. This claim is currently being verified, DCP Meena said.

Sharma had been depressed since his wife passed away from cancer a year ago. The quiet person grew even more withdrawn. He was rarely seen outside except for buying groceries or taking his youngest daughters – Neeru (visually challenged) and Nidhi (mobility issues) – back and forth the hospital.

The building caretaker’s wife, Vimla Devi, told The Indian Express Sharma would never open the door even when someone visited his house. “He would open it just a crack and would talk from there. He would never let anyone inside.”

“Since his wife died, he was always busy taking his daughters to the hospital, back and forth. When he came back from the hospital, he used to hold or carry his daughters to the fourth floor, one by one,” a neighbour said.

Another neighbour, Lalitha, told the newspaper that she heard sounds from the flat the day before they died. “I heard a lot of shouting and commotion… I think the daughters were fighting,” she said.

Sharma’s sister-in-law, Gudiya Sharma, who lived two kilometres from the home of the deceased, also revealed that he never spoke about his problems and that they were not in regular contact either.

“The last time my husband spoke to him was six months ago. It was a general conversation… about health and family. Even then, it didn’t seem he could take such a step. All the daughters had completed their studies but they didn’t work. He was the only one taking care of them financially and otherwise,” she told The Indian Express.

According to a preliminary probe, police suspect Sharma poisoned his daughters and, after they fell unconscious, consumed poison himself.

They suspect Sharma was overwhelmed with his daughters’ medical needs after his wife passed away and this prompted him to take his own life.

What happened in the Burari suicide case?

In the 2018 Burari incident in Delhi, 11 members of the Chundawat family died in a single night.

Ten of the family members were found blindfolded, with their mouths taped shut and hanging in their home. However, the 11th and oldest member, the grandmother, was strangled to death.

The case shook the entire country as evidence suggested the family had followed rituals for several days before their deaths, spurred by delusions of supernatural salvation.

The police, later, said the Chundawats suffered from a mental disorder known as shared delusion or psychosis.

This ritual mass suicide was reportedly orchestrated by a family member, who was following his deceased father’s instructions. The family was allegedly practising the rituals for an entire decade.

A three-part 2021 docu-series, titled House of Secrets: The Burari Deaths, on Netflix explains the horrific case in detail.

With inputs from agencies