In an interesting development in the Burari death case, police suspect that one person from the fateful family made a despreate last-minute attempt to save himself.
According to a report in Hindustan Times, Bhavnesh (50), Narayan Devi's son, had tried to free himself from the noose around his neck, but was unsuccessful in the attempt. One of his hands was in the air, near his throat, when police found the bodies.
“Forensic experts are of the opinion that Bhavnesh (50) unsuccessfully tried to free himself from the noose. His hands were also found to be loosely tied, making experts believe that he had attempted to untie himself,” said an officer, the report said.
The tape and cloth used to cover the mouth was partially removed from Bhavnesh's mouth. Aditionally, his legs were also touching the floor. This has led the forensic experts working on the case to believe that he was trying to escape his fate and attempted to "raise an alarm".
“His legs were also touching the floor. Forensic experts believe that the noose around his neck tightened as he struggled to stand on his feet to avoid death by hanging", accoding to an officer familiar with the investigation. The intitial autopsy report lists his cause of death as "partial hanging".
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Even as the police are certain that the mysterious deaths of 11 members of the family is a case of "mass suicide", they have questioned over 200 people in the case so far, a senior police officer said.
The police are awaiting the final postmortem report even though initial findings suggested that the 11 died of hanging, the officer added.
After receiving the report, the police will go for a psychological autopsy of the deceased to ascertain what prompted them for replicating "badh tapasya", a banyan-tree like formation.
One of the deceased, 33-year-old Priyanka Bhatia's fiance was questioned again and he denied knowing anything about the family indulging in certain kinds of rituals.
He was questioned for close to three hours on Monday, a sources said.
During investigation, police had also found that Priyanka had 'manglik dosh', which was responsible for her not being able to find a match earlier.
Ten of the 11 members of the family were found hanging from an iron-mesh in the ceiling earlier this month, while the body of 77-year-old Narayan Devi, the head of the family, was lying on the floor in another room of the house.
Devi's daughter Pratibha (57), her two sons Bhavnesh (50) and Lalit (45) were also among the deceased. Bhavnesh's wife Savita (48) and their three children - Maneka (23), Neetu (25), and Dhirendra, aged 15, too were found dead.
Lalit Bhatia's wife Tina (42) and their 15-year-old son Dushyant were also among those found dead. Pratibha's daughter Priyanka, who was engaged last month and would have married by the end of this year, was also found hanging.
Last Wednesday, the police had recovered CCTV footage that showed some members bringing stools and wires that were used for their hanging. They had also found 11 diaries which had "psychological musings" and things about attaining "road to God".
(With agency inputs)
