Burari Deaths Case: A CCTV camera footage shows the family prepping for the hanging voluntarily Highlights Diary entry suggests the 11 members of Burari family didn't expect to die Police reviewed 11 diaries dictated by one man over 11 years After the "ritual", everyone was to untie each other, read a diary entry The family found dead in north Delhi's Burari on Sunday didn't expect to die after hanging themselves, an entry in one of the 11 diaries seized by the police suggests. According to the entry that details how 11 members of the Chundawat household hanged themselves, they expected to be saved just in time by the spirit of Lalit Chundawat's father. It appears that Lalit Chundawat hallucinated about his dead father advising him on salvation, the police say after reviewing the 11 diaries that he had dictated over the last 11 years. Mostly it was his niece, Priyanka Chundawat, who took notes. The last sentence in the final diary, written on the day of the suicides, reads: "...keep water in a cup, when it changes colour, I will appear and save you." After the "ritual", everyone was to untie each other. The police say this entry could explain why a family, which by all accounts was looking forward to the future, was found dead. Priyanka was engaged to be married, and according to a cousin, chatted with him about wedding shopping. A video of the engagement party video that had two women and two boys dancing to a popular Hindi song was earlier seen to contradict the earlier police theory of a mass suicide. The lone survivor in the grisly scene was the family's dog, found by the police on the roof. There were no signs of robbery or struggle. The security footage recovered from a CCTV camera installed opposite the house, which has been accessed by NDTV, shows the family prepping for the hanging voluntarily. According to the police, 10 of them were found bound and hanging in their home. The eleventh, 77-year-old matriarch Narayani Devi, was found in an adjacent room. A police officer said the family had been maintaining a diary for some years that contained "quite a graphic description" which matched the condition of the bodies at the scene of the crime. The notes also contained a description of the family's final meal - 20 rotis delivered to the family home earlier at 10.39 pm on Saturday. The CCTV footage shows Narayani Devi's eldest son Bhuvanesh taking the dog for a short walk some time later. Their neighbor Gurcharan Singh, 79, found them dead on Sunday morning when the family did not open their convenience store. He saw the 10 bodies hanging and called the police. He is also seen in the CCTV footage walking out of the house at 7:15 am, shocked.<doc-sep>India mystery over Delhi's 'house of mass hangings' Published 2 July 2018 image copyright Getty Images image caption The neighbourhood of Burari is reeling from the deaths of the Chundawat family The funerals of 11 members of an extended family - 10 of whom were found hanging from the ceiling of their home in the Indian capital Delhi - will take place on Monday night following post-mortem examinations, police say. Investigators have said the case could be one of "mass suicide linked to spiritual and mystical practices" based on some notes they found inside the house on Sunday morning. However, they have not yet ruled out murder. These are the details so far about the case, which has gripped the country: What do we know about the family? The 11 dead are members of the Chundawat family. They include 75-year-old Narayan Devi, her daughter, two sons, their wives, and five grandchildren aged between 33 and 15. All of them - apart from Narayan Devi who was lying on the floor - were found hanging from the ceiling of their home. Their hands were tied behind their backs, and their eyes and mouths were covered with cloth. The family lived in a three-storey house in Burari, a largely middle-class area of North Delhi. Though originally from the neighbouring state of Rajasthan, they had lived there for more than 20 years. They operated two shops on the ground floor of their home - one sold groceries and the other sold plywood. image copyright Getty Images image caption There was no sign of forced entry at the house Neighbours say the family were active members of the community and describe them as "religious, happy and financially comfortable". The oldest grandchild, Priyanka, who was 33, was among the dead. She had got engaged two weeks ago and the family had thrown a large party to celebrate, inviting many people in the area. "They never had any problems with anyone. We never saw them fighting," one of their neighbours, TP Sharma, told BBC Hindi. A relative said that the family's eyes had been donated to an eye bank as "they always wanted to help others". Was it murder or suicide? We don't know yet. The circumstances surrounding the death are all very mysterious. The bodies were found by a neighbour, Gurcharan Singh, who was sent by his wife to check why the general store had not opened at its usual time. Mr Singh was quoted by the Indian Express newspaper as saying that they had also thought it odd that the family had not switched on their water motor at 04:30 which they did every day. "When I entered, all the doors were open and they were hanging from the ceiling. Their hands were tied. I was shocked when I saw so many bodies, so I rushed home and told my wife," he told BBC Hindi. The police say they were informed soon after and rushed a team to the spot. image copyright Reuters image caption Police have not ruled out murder yet The house showed no sign of forced entry. Nothing else had been moved. The gold jewellery worn by the women had been left untouched and their mobile phones and other electronic items were also all still in the home. The only surviving member of the household was their pet dog Jacky, who had reportedly been sent to the rooftop terrace. Neighbours say he did not raise the alarm at any point in the night. Police also found a number of handwritten notes, which they believe refer to "unusual practices and beliefs" and may have outlined a plan for a mass suicide as part of a spiritual practice. The PTI news agency said that initial post-mortem reports carried out on eight of the bodies have confirmed death by hanging. The reports also say Narayan Devi died from "partial hanging" - though it is not clear why she has no rope around her neck. The final report is still awaited. Is there any truth to the 'spiritual' theory? It's hard to say at this point. According to PTI, one of the notes they found said: "The human body is temporary and one can overcome fear by covering their eyes and mouth." "We have found handwritten notes detailing how hands and legs are to be tied and are quite similar to the manner in which the bodies of 10 persons were found. They are exhaustive notes and we are studying them," deputy police commissioner Alok Kumar is quoted as saying. Police also told PTI that the notes seemed to suggest that this "ritual" would lead to "moksha", the Sanskrit word for salvation, which was referred to several times. image copyright AFP image caption The neighbourhood has been swarming with police and media The neighbours, who described the family as devout, also said that they knew of no evidence to suggest that they were members of a cult. Sujata Bhatia, Narayan Devi's daughter who lives elsewhere, told PTI: "I can't believe that they committed suicide. Everyone was so happy. Someone has killed my family and the police have to find them." How have Indian media reacted? The deaths - and the mystery surrounding them - quickly made national headlines and continue to attract media attention. News channels have been flashing images and videos of the family that have been found on social media - including one of them dancing together at Priyanka's engagement. Speculation is rife with news reports referring to the Chundawats' home as a "death house" and the notes as a "murder manual".<doc-sep>The deaths came to light at 7.15am, when a neighbour, Gurcharan Singh, visited the house. NEW DELHI: The initial post mortem reports of six of the 11 family members who were found dead at their house in Delhi's Burari's area on Sunday morning have revealed hanging as the cause of the deaths.Autopsy was conducted on the six bodies last night.The post-mortem examination of six persons, including the two children, has been carried out and so far, police have not found any signs of strangulation or scuffle, according to the officer.The bodies will be handed over to the family for last rites this afternoon.Delhi Police crime branch probing into the mystery behind the mass suicide would also question the fiance of the woman in the family who was supposed to get married later this year. Police are scanning through their call details as well.The possibility of the family being disciples of a godman practicing occult rituals is also being probed.The cops are also probing the internet search history of the family members.Eleven members of a family, including two minor boys, were found dead under mysterious circumstances at their home in north Delhi 's Burari on Sunday.The eldest family member, Narayani Bhatia, 77, was found strangled in another room. The rest, including two 15-year-old boys, allegedly used chunnis (scarves) with religious motifs and cables to hang themselves. They were gagged and blindfolded, with hands tied. Cotton buds were found stuffed in their ears.A diary found in the house had detailed instructions + for "mass salvation", including how hangings should be conducted. The Bhatias, who ran a shop in the area, seemed to have followed the instructions, some of which may have been written months ago. They conducted a "havan" hours before the suicides.The deaths came to light at 7.15am, when a neighbour, Gurcharan Singh, visited the house and alerted the police after witnessing the horror.“The Bhatia brothers had recently started a dairy business from their general store and used to open their shop at 5.30am. Today, however, my wife noticed that the shop hadn’t opened till 7am and many customers had lined up outside. I went in to check and found the main door unlocked. The entire family was hanging in the hallway,” said Singh, a retired train locomotive driver, said.<doc-sep>Eleven members of the same family have been found dead in India’s capital city, most hanging from the ceiling of their home, blindfolded, gagged and with their hands tied behind their backs. Police said some handwritten notes had been found in the house ”which point towards observance of some definite spiritual/mystical practices by the whole family”. “These notes have strong similarity with the manner in which the mouths, eyes etc of the deceased were tied and taped,” authorities said. The religious beliefs angle is being investigated and a murder case has been registered, the police statement said. The statement said the house had not been ransacked and no valuables were found to be missing. Onlookers gather along a road near the site where 11 family members were found dead inside their home in the neighbourhood of Burari in New Delhi (AFP/Getty Images) The victims - a 77-year-old woman, her two sons and their wives, a daughter and five grandchildren - lived in the house above a food shop the family owned in the Burari district, in a northern part of Delhi. Ten of the victims were found hanging from a railing attached to the ceiling, local media reported, while the elderly woman was found on the floor. A neighbour said he found the door of the house open and the family hanging and called police to the scene. People living nearby had not heard anything untoward, police said. Reports said the family migrated to the capital from the northwestern state of Rajasthan about two decades ago and police were trying to get in touch with relatives there.<doc-sep>
On Sunday, 77-year-old Narayan Devi, her children and grandchildren were found dead in their home. Highlights Handwritten notes recovered near bodies detail a mystical suicide ritual Relatives said there was never any indication of extreme beliefs Police probe has not ruled out murder as cause of deaths Police are investigating the mysterious deaths of 11 members of a deeply religious New Delhi family, 10 of whom were found bound and hanging in their home with handwritten notes detailing a mystical suicide ritual. An 11th family member, a 77-year-old woman, was found dead in an adjacent room. The bodies were discovered on Sunday. Senior police official Alok Kumar said Tuesday that "on the face of it" the deaths of four male and seven female members of the Bhatia family "looks like a case of suicide." Post-mortem reports and testimonies of relatives and neighbors are being analyzed and police probes have not ruled out murder as a cause of the deaths. Kumar said notes found at the Bhatia residence had details about how the mouths and eyes of the family should be taped, and where each of the family members should be positioned for the ritual. "They have been maintaining a diary for the last two to three years, and in it, we found quite a graphic description which matched the condition of the bodies at the scene of the crime." The notes also contained a description of the family's final meal - a stack of 20 loaves of flatbread, which were delivered to the family home earlier that evening. Police are investigating whether the family followed a particular guru or spiritual leader. Neighbors and relatives said that the Bhatias were deeply religious, prayed three times a day and went to a nearby temple. Relatives said there was never any indication of extreme beliefs, though the family's faith had intensified after one its members - 45-year-old Lalit - had made a miraculous recovery after a plank of plywood fell on his head more than a decade ago. Nonetheless, the case has sent shock waves through India, where self-appointed, charismatic holy men hold huge sway, and where a number of recent cases involving rapes, abuse and deaths of followers of spiritual gurus have sparked concerns about how much power these men have. The members were found hanging from a mesh in their ceiling in the hallway, all close together. The family was found on Sunday morning when a 79-year-old neighbor Gurcharan Singh went inside the home to ask why they had not opened their convenience store that morning and saw the 10 bodies hanging. "I saw it and came out. I couldn't bear to look," he said. The family's dog, now in police custody, had been tied up on the roof, Singh told The Washington Post. Among those who died were two 15-year-old boys, and a young woman, who according to relatives had been planning her wedding. A police press release said that there was no evidence that the house had been ransacked - gold jewelry was found on the bodies of the women and mobile phones were found in the house. CCTV footage from the street also does not suggest that anyone entered or left the house from the main door on the night of the deaths, police said. Samir Parekh, director of the Department of Mental Health and Behavioral Sciences at Fortis Healthcare said that though the specifics of this case were still unclear, pact suicides are usually led by a dominant family member. Ambulances carry bodies of 11 family members, who were found hanging at their residence in Burari, Delhi. "When a key family member decides that it's time to end their life, the rest are left in a very difficult situation." He also said that socioeconomic reasons or a fall in status could also contribute to suicide. A number of relatives gathered outside the Bhatia family home on Monday said they did not believe that the family could have committed mass suicide. Anju Bhat, a relative who was mourning the family outside their home on Monday said that she regularly came to visit the family, especially the 77-year-old matriarch Narayana. "This is all lies, she didn't believe in these things," she said, when asked about the suicide ritual. "I came here just a month ago. Whenever we saw each other, she'd bare her heart, and I'd bare mine. She had a very nice manner." Tiloki Nath, a 70-year-old relative, said, "This was murder for sure.