Delhi triple suicide: Victims sealed doors, windows, left a note for rescuers

Police said according to preliminary probe, it seems that the three women suffocated to death as four small coal and wood-burning stoves were found lit inside the bedroom. Also, the knob of a cooking gas cylinder was also found partially open

A day after bodies of a 55-year-old bed-ridden woman and her two daughters, aged 30 and 26, were found on a bed inside their two-room ground floor flat at Vasant Apartment near Basant Gaon in south Delhi, police said it found the flat locked from inside with doors and windows sealed with aluminium foil, plastic sheets and clothes, a six-page suicide note and a warning note pasted on one of the walls of the house.

A gap in a window, sealed using cloth, at the flat where three were found dead. (Sanchit Khanna/HT photo)

“Too much deadly gas... carbon monoxide inside. It’s flammable, ismein aag lag sakti hain (it can catch fire). Please ventilate the room by opening the window and opening the fan. Do not light match, candle or anything!! Be careful while removing the curtain because the room is full of hazardous gas. Do not inhale. Open the inside window from outside,” the note purportedly written by the occupants of the house read.

Police said according to preliminary probe, it seems that the three women suffocated to death as four small coal and wood-burning stoves were found lit inside the bedroom. Also, the knob of a cooking gas cylinder was also found partially open. This, the police said, explains the note since any attempt to light a match or a candle may have triggered a fire.

Officers associated with the probe said the three victims were exposed to the carbon monoxide from the charcoal stoves and the LPG from the cylinder -- both may have caused suffocation. They, however, said that they are waiting for the autopsy report to ascertain the cause of death.

An investigator said the house was sealed with cloth attached to the iron mosquito mesh on the windows. It was further covered with aluminium foil fixed with adhesive tape, he said. The police suspect ventilation was deliberately cut to stop hazardous fumes from escaping the room, as well as stop people from peeping inside, the officer said.

The alleged suicide note talked about a failed ‘suicide pact’ that the family members had made around a year ago, problems the family was facing, and mentioned apologies to neighbours, especially a domestic help who often visited the family, and relatives. The family members did not blame anyone for their extreme step, the police said quoting the alleged note.

The notes and other items recovered from the flat have been sent to the forensic science laboratory (FSL) for examination, said deputy commissioner of police (south-west) Manoj C.

On Saturday at 8.55pm, the president of Vasant Apartment’s resident welfare association (RWA) called the police that a flat in his neighbourhood was locked from inside, and the woman and her two daughters who lived there were not responding, despite repeated knocks at the door or windows. A team from Vasant Vihar police station reached there and found that the windows were sealed from inside. The personnel cut through a portion of the metal net, cloth, aluminium foil and plastic sheet to peep inside the window.

“Smoke came out of the hole. They broke open the gate, went inside the flat and found the three bodies,” said the RWA president, adding that the incident has shocked the neighbours.

A neighbour who asked not to be named said that the family was “financially and emotionally distressed” since the death of the woman’s husband due to Covid-19 in June last year. Apart from him, the other family members had also tested positive and struggled to find oxygen cylinders, medicines and beds during the second wave of the pandemic last year, the neighbour said.

“The 55-year-old head of the family died in a government hospital while we arranged an oxygen cylinder for the other family members at their flat. They survived the Covid wave but the elder daughter never fully recovered. She was disturbed because of her father’s death and also became bed-ridden like her mother. It was the younger daughter who was helping the two survive,” the neighbour said.

The domestic help, who had worked with the family for nearly 10 years, and was the last one to speak with the younger daughter, said that the family was in debt as they were unable to pay for grocery items that they had purchased from two nearby shops. “The family had promised to clear the dues of one of the shopkeepers on Saturday. The shopkeeper went to collect the money in the evening but nobody responded. He informed me and I asked the locals to check on the family,” the help said, requesting to remain anonymous.

Three relatives who had come to claim the bodies after the post-mortem examination said that they often spoke with the younger daughter over phone but she had never told them about the problems the family was facing.

“We had helped her financially when her father died. The family owned the adjacent flat and had rented it out. We did not know she had asked the tenant to vacate the flat in December,” one relative said who asked not to be named.

Mental health professionals said the neighbours or the relatives should have went and talked to the family as soon as they isolated themselves, or alerted the police or agencies concerned.

“In such a situation, the RWAs or neighbours should inform the police or seek help from mental health professionals, who can interact with the people in distress and help them relieve mental stress. I firmly believe that the government should form a policy through which interventions can be made by health professionals into the lives of those suffering from mental issues. Only early diagnosis and timely support can prevent such tragic incidents,” said Rajat Mitra, a clinical psychologist.