Burari case: What we know about the 11 family members
The death mystery of an 11-member family in New Delhi's Burari area has sent shockwaves across the national capital. Bodies of family members including seven women and four men were recovered from their house under suspicious circumstances on Sunday.
According to initial reports, 10 bodies were found hanging with their mouths and eyes gagged, while the body of an elderly woman was found lying on the floor of the house.
The victims have been identified as Narayan Devi (77), her daughter Pratibha (57) and two sons--Bhavnesh (50) and Lalit Bhatia (45). Bhavnesh's wife Savita (48) and their three children--Meenu (23), Neetu (25) and Dhruv (15) were also found dead, police said, adding Lalit's wife Tina (42) along with their 15-year-old son Shivam was also among the dead.
Pratibha's daughter, Priyanka (33), had got engaged last month and was supposed to get married by the end of this year. She was also found hanging along with the other family members. The neighbours revealed that the family never disclosed of any financial or familial troubles in the past. A night before, they had closed their grocery shop at the usual 11:45 pm and did not show any signs of distress. 
The 11 members of the family were deeply religious, the relatives said. “The family was educated and not superstitious”, said a relative, alleging that they were killed. “They were not facing any financial issues and had not taken even a single load, everything was fine. Why would they kill themselves?” he added.
Another relative suspected foul play into the incident and claimed that he spoke to the family a night before. “The family did not have enmity with anyone, but we suspect someone killed them”, he alleged. The relatives also claimed that there was no religious angle linked to the incident.
A neighbour of the family was the first person to spot the bodies. While talking to India TV, the neighbour revealed that the family used to run a grocery shop which used to be open from 6 in the morning. However, he went to check up on them at their residence after he found the shop closed till 7:45 am. A call to the police was made by him when he found the 10 bodies were found hanging, while the body of a 75-year-old woman was lying on the floor.
Police said that the members of the family were blindfolded and were hanging from an iron grill ceiling of the house. A case of murder has been registered at Burari police station in the incident, police said, adding the case has been handed over to the Crime Branch.
During search of the house, certain hand-written notes were found which point towards observance of some definite spiritual/mystical practices by the whole family. These notes have strong similarity with the way the mouths, eyes etc of the deceased were tied and taped. The same is being investigated further to establish its links with the deaths.
CCTV footage revealed a person had visited their residence to deliver food, hours before the incident took place. No one was seen entering or leaving the house after that, until the neighbour who found the bodies on Sunday.
The relatives of the family members have demanded a CBI probe into the incident.
Also read | Burari case: Relatives dismiss 'religious angle', demand CBI probe
