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For residents of Sant Nagar of North Delhi, Sunday morning brought with it the news of a horrifying mass suicide. 11 members of the same family were found dead in their house. All of them, except for one, were found hanging in the hall. While the post-mortem report has confirmed the cause of death to have been asphyxiation, several details have stopped the police from ruling out the murder angle.
Intriguing notes found at the scene, contain details about the death of 77-year-old Narayan Devi, her children and grandchildren.
These notes contain information that seemingly points towards the hallucinations and delusions experienced by Lalit Bhatia(45), the youngest of Narayan Devi’s sons.
According to NDTV, police believe that Lalit drove the mass suicide based on his notes that contained instructions on how the deed was to be done.
He had reportedly started jotting down these notes in 2015. Lalit, who had taken a vow of silence following the demise of his father 10 years ago, recently started speaking again. However, he would apparently describe visits from his deceased father.
One of the critical entries in his notes predicts the end of the world and that his family would survive only if they performed a certain ritual.
The entry reads:
“Antim samay mein, aakhri ichha ki purti ke waqt, aasman hilegi dharti kaanpegi, us waqt tum ghabrana mat, mantra ka jaap badha dena, mein aakar utar loonga aur ko bhi utarne mein madad karunga.”
Which when translated, speaks of skies opening and the earth shaking during the said hour. It urges them to chant the mantra while it happens and not to panic. It also speaks of someone coming to save him and helping him in saving the others as well.
From such entries, the police say Lalit believed his father was speaking to him, informing him of God’s plan and their ultimate salvation.
The Hindustan Times reports that the family had been rehearsing the steps in which they would hang themselves, to get it right as per the instructions for quite some time.
They quote an investigating police officer as such:
“He wrote about dreaming about his father who died years ago and taking instructions about property, business and family responsibilities from him. He would attribute all the ritualistic activities to ‘upar se aadesh’.
The handwritings match that of Lalit. The dates on which the notes had been taken were mentioned in many places. At others, it had been omitted. The frequency of writing the notes had increased since January. The last date mentioned in the notes is June 25.
The notes repeatedly mentioned performing ‘vat tapasya’ (worshipping the banyan tree). It made special mention of worshipping the hanging roots of the banyan tree. As per the notes, the ritual performers were to hang in a formation that would replicate the hanging roots of a banyan tree.”
The officer adds that while the initial notes did not mention hanging, they did speak of the family members tying their hands, covering the eyes and mouth and plugging the ears with cotton, all as per the ritual.
In addition to this, the notes also urge them to follow the ritual steps strictly to avoid consequences. “Chintan karo, chinta mat karo,” reads an entry, asking them to contemplate instead of worrying.
One of Lalit’s entries also speaks of himself in the third person:
“Lalit ke swasthya ki chinta mat karna… mere aane se prabhaav padta hai.”
Police believe he may have been suffering from delusional disorder, which may have caused him to write as such believing it to be his father’s words.
Ahmed Ali, a domestic help who worked full time with the family says that they were very religious and down to earth. Despite being well off, they did not own any vehicle and instead chose to travel by public transport.
However, he never noticed them praying to any deities. He says:
“They had a large worshipping place in the house earlier. But they brought a smaller one during the ongoing renovation of their home. The new temple did not have any photos or statues of deities.”
Adding to the sinister air surrounding the entire case is the repeated occurrence of the number 11.
The presence of 11 plastic pipes protruding out of a wall of the house has baffled both the police and the residents of the area. The fact that they are not connected to any water inlet or outlet is raising many questions. The pipes which were installed in the last 3-4 months have led some to speculate that they may have been meant to allow for the passage of the souls.
Ali says:
“The house was undergoing construction and renovation. When I asked the family about the pipes, the family said they would serve as ventilation.
The family knew that they couldn’t open a window at that end, so they decided to leave some scope for the air to pass through the pipes. When I asked them about it, they said the pipes would be removed later.”
Another element that makes the number 11 relevant in this case is the presence of 11 rods on an iron gate at the house’s entrance.
Despite the eerieness of the incident, many individuals claim that their recent interactions with the family had indicated that they had been looking towards a future, even arranging for more tiles for the kitchen and bathroom of the house with Ali. Jeevan Bahadur, Lalit’s brother-in-law speaks of having planned a get together with the family for the following week.
The police are still investigating into the mysterious nature of these deaths and haven’t yet ruled out mass murder as a possibility. They are also looking into the significance of the number 11 with relation to the rods on the gate and the odd plastic pipes.
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