Days after a man and his four daughters were found dead at their home in Delhi's Vasant Kunj area, the police on Tuesday said that they found that the man was in touch with an 'exorcist' for the treatment of one of his daughters.
The decomposed bodies of Heera Lal Sharma (46), who worked as a carpenter at the Indian Spinal Injury Centre in Vasant Kunj for the last 28 years, and his four daughters -- Neetu (26), Nikki (24), Neeru (23) and Nidhi (20) -- were recovered from their residence at Rangpuri village September 27. Police had said Neeru and Nidhi were differently abled.
Sources said the police accessed the call data records of Sharma, in which he spoke with one of his brothers on September 19, just for 20 seconds and on the same day, he also spoke with a female 'exorcist', a resident of south-east Delhi.
"On being cross-checked, it was found that she had told Sharma some of the remedies for his differently-abled daughter, Neeru, but it was not the occult practice or anything that could raise any such suspicion," a police source said.
The investigations have revealed that Neeru could not properly sit or stand. She would also complain of bad dreams at night and could not sleep properly, police said.
Sharma had earlier too, consulted with an exorcist regarding Neeru, the source said.
The investigations so far, have revealed that Sharma was financially and emotionally stressed after the death of his wife, for the past few months and all the household work had come on him including taking care of Neeru and his other three daughters.
A team of local police conducted a thorough search of their house, once again, where the bodies were found on September 27.
No incriminating or any suspicious thing has been recovered from inside the house, in the second round of search, which could give any clue to the police, behind the extreme step," sources added.
So far, the police have suspected it to be a case of suicide pact but have not ruled out the possibility of Sharma poisoning his daughters before committing suicide, another source said.
Post-mortem reports have suggested the primary cause of death is the poisoning of all the deceased, the police source said.
Police suspect the family was going through a financial crisis for the past few months as there had been no transactions since April this year.
Sharma had stopped going to his office since January and had become a recluse after the death of his wife, police sources said. The HR department of his office had sent him reminders, asking him to return to work, but he never joined, they said.
After the incident, police said the probe team had found a red thread tied on the waist, hand and neck of the four girls. Salphos tablets and a box of sweets were also recovered from the spot, according to police.
