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'Is snatching your child’s phone a sin?’: Father of three Ghaziabad sisters who died by suicide | Watch
Chetan Kumar, father of three sisters who fell from a Ghaziabad high-rise, shared insights on their online gaming habits and family dynamics.
Chetan Kumar, the father of three sisters who allegedly jumped to their deaths from a high-rise apartment in Ghaziabad, has shed more light on the tragic case.
Speaking on the incident, Kumar said he loved the three kids a lot and he came to know of the incident after his wife realised that the three girls had locked the door of the room from inside.
The three girls, Nishika (16), Prachi (14) and Pakhi (12), had allegedly locked themselves in the room before jumping out of the window one after another.
“I used to pamper my children a lot…They would watch Korean dramas, Korean games, and Korean reels. Their eyes were swollen, which is why I snatched away their phones. They were angry about it. Is snatching away your child's phone a sin? I snatched their phones because their eyes had swollen,” he said, in a conversation with news agency PTI.
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Police have said there is no indication of foul play and that preliminary findings suggest the girls jumped one after another. Officers are examining the father’s claims of their online gaming obsession alongside family circumstances and digital evidence, with cyber crime teams trying to trace the mobile phones using IMEI numbers to retrieve data from Korean apps, officials said.
A complex family dynamic
Investigators have uncovered a complicated family structure, confirming that Kumar has three wives, namely Sujata, Heena and Tina, who are biological sisters. The eldest girl was born to Sujata, while the two younger sisters were born to Heena, as per PTI.
ALSO READ | Amid probe in Ghaziabad minors' death, police find father's live-in partner died of suicide in 2015
Officials said the family had been under financial strain since the Covid-19 pandemic, with debts deepening their isolation. Investigators also noted that the sisters were more emotionally attached to their father than their mothers, which is why a suicide note and diary recovered from their room addressed only him.
A nine-page pocket diary found at the scene points to intense attachment to Korean culture, loneliness and distress within the household. The case has also revived scrutiny of Kumar’s past, after police revealed that a former live-in partner died in 2015 in a case then treated as suicide, as per an earlier report by HT.com.
ALSO READ | ‘Girls were depressed after…’: What police said on Ghaziabad sisters' suicide
Grandfather demands ban on Korean game
Meanwhile, the girls’ maternal grandfather has urged the government to ban Korean task-based games, saying such apps are pushing children towards extreme steps. Protests have since erupted in parts of Delhi demanding stricter controls on online gaming for minors.
"I fold my hands before the government and request that the game be banned, so that no more such deaths or suicides happen," he said, as per PTI.
(With inputs from PTI)
