Burari deaths: Autopsy reports released, 10 of 11 died due to asphyxiation

12 days after a family of 11 members had been found dead in Delhi's Burari area, the mystique still stands strong as the police have declared it to be a case of mass suicide due to occult practices.

According to the post-mortem reports, 10 of the 11 members had died due to ante-mortem hanging, and asphyxiation. One member, Narayani Devi (77) was found on the floor of another room tied with a belt to the handle of an almirah beside it. The doctors are yet to agree on the cause of her death.

The police also found 11 registers containing descriptions and notes on 'badh puja', 'salvation', 'shunya', 'appeasing God' and 'the road to God', thus strengthening suspicions of an occult rituals being practiced by the family. According to reports, the handwriting in the registers belongs to Lalit Bhatia.

In the autopsy reports, it was revealed that Bhavnesh and Priyanka had injury marks on their arms, which they sustained by trying to free themselves from the noose. The children of the family are believed to be the first to die.

The bodies of Narayani Devi's sons Bhuvanesh (50) and Lalit (45), daughters-in-law Savita (48) and Teena (42), daughter Pratibha (57), and grandchildren Priyanka (33), Nidhi (25), Maneka (23), Dhruv (15) and Shivam (15) were found gagged, blindfolded and hanging in the hallway of their residence in Burari on June 30.

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