On Monday night, 17-year-old Tavish thought something was off with her friend Ritika Vasudeva. The two had been friends since school when they met in class 5.
“I had spoken to her in the evening on Monday. We were going to talk at night too, which had become some sort of a ritual with us, but her mobile was switched off. She was not available on her social media account either,” said Tavish. “I felt there was something wrong.”
Tavish gathered some of their friends and reached Ritika’s apartment. It was there that they heard the news. The death of their friend, who they recalled to be very motivated, was a shock.
“I tried calling her and even her mother’s mobile on Monday night, but they were switched off . We all felt that something was wrong and we arrived here to find out that all have died. Ritika was very close to her parents but she never discussed her family affairs or their business issues. She was a very motivated person,” said another girl from the group of friends.
“I knew her since Class 5,” said Tavish. “She had finished class 12 and was joining a fashion designing course, which was her dream.”
Most of Vasudeva’s nieghbours had no clue about the family. Many got to know of the incident only late Tuesday evening when they saw the police.
{{/usCountry}}Most of Vasudeva’s nieghbours had no clue about the family. Many got to know of the incident only late Tuesday evening when they saw the police.
{{/usCountry}}“Guards told us that they have heard someone falling to the ground. When we reached there, we found three persons out of which two had already died. One woman was alive but she later succumbed at a hospital. After we called the police, along with them we went to the eighth floor flat and the outermost iron door was open. The inside wooden door and broken by police. We found two children dead inside and also their pet rabbit,” said Brajesh Sharma, secretary of the highrise AOA.
Police said they received no calls till about 5 am when the apartment owners’ association (AOA) of Krishna Apra Sapphire, where the Vasudevas lived, reported the incident.
Till late Tuesday eveing the cops said that they did not receive any police complaint in the incident. Vasudeva had left behind a suicide note scribbled on the wall of the room and mentioned name of husband of his wife’s sister as the person responsible.
“The family members have not given us a formal complaint so far. It could be due to reason that Vasudeva’s brother in law is also their relative. In case no complaint is received the police will lodge FIR suo motu. One FIR will be for murder of two children and the other for abetting suicide of three victims,” said Manish Mishra, superintendent of police (city).
Shortly before the Gulshan Vasudeva family and his employee were found dead on Tuesday morning, he had called his friend 70-year-old Ramesh Arora at 3.38am.
“Vasudeva showed me dead children and the suicide note,” said Arora who lives in Vasudeva’s native Jhilmil in Delhi. “I frantically tried calling up his relatives and family members. But I don’t know why they did not respond. I also tried calling up Vasudeva several times, but he did not take calls and later his mobile was switched off. I felt very helpless at my age. I tried but could not save him and his family.”