Elderly couple found dead in northeast Delhi, note says ‘burdened’

Investigators said that the couple’s children, who were not at home at the time of the incident, found their parents’ bodies in separate rooms after returning home past midnight on Friday.

A 55-year-old man and his wife were found dead in their residence in northeast Delhi’s Jyoti Nagar early Friday in an apparent double suicide, police said, adding that a suicide note recovered from the home cited severe financial distress and unsustainable loan burdens as the reason.

Preliminary investigation revealed that the family had been under financial pressure after the couple’s small factory shut down.

Investigators said that the couple’s children, who were not at home at the time of the incident, found their parents’ bodies in separate rooms after returning home past midnight on Friday.

According to police, a call reporting the double suicide was received by the couple’s children at 12.05am on Friday. A police team rushed to the house in Jyoti Nagar where the bodies of the husband and wife were found hanging from ceiling fans in separate rooms.

“They had hung themselves from fans. We took the bodies to the hospital. During the initial probe, we found that there were no signs of forced entry or foul play,” a senior police officer said.

Forensic experts were called to examine the scene and evidence was collected from the house, investigators said. The bodies were then sent to Guru Teg Bahadur (GTB) Hospital for post-mortem.

Preliminary investigation, according to an officer aware of the case details, revealed that the family had been under intense financial pressure for months after the couple’s small factory shut down, leaving them without income or savings. Their children, engaged in petty work, were unable to stabilise the household finances.

The contents of the suicide note are being verified as part of the investigation into the case, the officer added.

Proceedings under Section 194 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita have been initiated. The bodies were sent for post-mortem, and police are recording statements from family and neighbours.