Woman, minor girl found dead at home, daughter-in-law found hanging the next day

The series of deaths, all within the span of a few hours, prompted some of their relatives to claim that this was a case of double murder and suicide, but the police neither confirmed nor denied this.

A 40-year-old woman and her minor daughter were found dead at their house in outer Delhi’s Shahbad Dairy on Wednesday evening, while the woman’s daughter-in-law was found hanging at her parent’s house nearby on Thursday morning, the police said.

The police have initiated inquest proceedings in her death as well even though no FIR has been registered in the three deaths as yet. (HT file photo)

The series of deaths, all within the span of a few hours, prompted some of their relatives to claim that this was a case of double murder and suicide, but the police neither confirmed nor denied this. Police said they would await the autopsy report to determine how each of them had died.

On Wednesday, the 40-year-old woman and her 14-year-old daughter were found dead by her 23-year-old son when he returned home from work around 4.30pm, said Gaurav Sharma, deputy commissioner of police (outer-north).

Police did not identify the deceased as they are yet to determine the cause of death and one of the deceased was a minor. Police, however, said the family dealt in scrap and lived in Shahbad Daulatpur village.

A relative later told HT, on condition of anonymity, that the son of the 40-year-old woman got married to the 22-year-old woman in April, during the lockdown period. “His mother and wife would frequently quarrel over domestic issues,” the relative alleged, even as the police said that they were still investigating whether there were any relationship issues.

The relative said on Wednesday afternoon, the woman’s son returned home from work and found his mother and sister lying dead. “His wife told him that both of them had died of an electric shock from the air-cooler,” the relative claimed.

He alerted neighbours and relatives who lived nearby and they, in turn, called the police.

“When a few neighbours and family looked around the house, they found a bloodstained steam iron lying near the bodies. There were blunt injuries to the elder woman while the 14-year-old had strangulation marks,” the relative quoted above said, adding that the family suspected that the mother and daughter were killed by the daughter-in-law.

But DCP Sharma said there were no visible injuries on the bodies and that it was too early to say how they died. He also did not comment on whether any steam iron was found near the bodies. “We would know how they died only when the autopsy report arrives early next week,” Sharma said.

Sharma said inquest proceedings were initiated in the two deaths, but more were to follow over the next few hours.

Around 11pm Wednesday, a massive fire engulfed the neighbourhood, gutting around 70 houses. The house where the two bodies were found was also gutted. While the DCP said that this was a mere coincidence, a lot of the evidence at the scene of the deaths was destroyed in the fire.

A fire department officer, on condition of anonymity, said it took 32 fire tenders nearly three hours to douse the flames. “A total of 67 jhuggis were gutted in the blaze,” the officer said.

He said while the trigger for the fire is yet to be known, it is suspected to have begun at the scrapyard in the area.

Meanwhile, after police questioning, the daughter-in-law had returned to her parents’ home nearby, while her husband stayed with his relatives. “Around 9am Thursday, her parents found her hanging from the ceiling fan in her room,” DCP Sharma said.

The police have initiated inquest proceedings in her death as well even though no FIR has been registered in the three deaths as yet.