Relatives hand over Burari family’s pet dog to Noida animal shelter

The dog, which was called Tommy by the family, is an India-pitbull mix breed. It was found chained on the terrace of the house, where 11 members of the Bhatia family were found dead .

The relatives of the Burari family, who were found hanging inside their north Delhi home on July 1, have decided to permanently hand over the family dog to Noida-based animal shelter.

The pet dog of the 11 member family which was found dead inside their house in North Delhi’s Burari on Sunday morning. The pet was found chained on the terrace of the house. (HT Photo)

The dog, which was called Tommy by the family, is an India-pitbull mix breed. It was found chained on the terrace of the house, where 11 members of the Bhatia family were found dead . Ten of the family members were found hanging at various parts of the house while one woman, Narayan Devi (77) was found dead on the floor of a room. Police investigation so far has revealed that the family might have killed themselves during a ‘religious ritual’ that went horribly wrong. Handwritten notes recovered from the house suggests that the family believed that God will come and save them all as soon as they hanged themselves.

The dog was later rescued by a Noida-based animal activist named Sanjay Mahapatra, who claimed that the chained animal was burning with 108 degree fever when he was taken away from the house. Since then, Tommy has been under Mahapatra’s care at his shelter in Noida.

On Sunday, Prashant Singh Chundawat, one of the grandsons of Narayan Devi, the oldest family member found dead inside the house last week, said he has decided to hand over the family dog to the Noida shelter. In an email written to Mahapatra, Chundawat said, “I would like to thank you for adopting and taking care of our only remaining family member, Tommy. We live in Kota, Rajasthan and it is very difficult for us to get him here as he is not familiar with us and is very aggressive.”