Probe ordered after three sisters starve to death in Delhi
The Delhi government has ordered a magisterial probe into the incident where three minor sisters were found dead in east Delhi’s Mandawali area. "The Delhi government has ordered a magisterial probe into the matter," Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said in a tweet.
The initial postmortem report suggested that the girls died due to ‘malnourishment/starvation and its complications’. The police, however said that a second autopsy will establish the cause of death with finality.
No traces of food were found in the stomach of the girls, the police added.
A forensic team inspected the place where the family was staying and found some medicine bottles and pills for treating loose motion, police said.
Initially, it seemed to be a case of natural death but with the medicine bottles being recovered, police want to ensure that there was no foul play. It is suspected that the girls had not eaten for days and their father on Monday had arranged food but since they were unwell, they could not eat, police said.
The girls aged eight, four and two years, were brought to a hospital by their mother and a friend at around 1 pm on Tuesday. The police were informed about the incident by the hospital authorities.
A re-examination was conducted by the doctors at the GTB hospital, said Deputy Commissioner of Police (east), Pankaj Singh.
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The father of the girls, a casual labourer, is missing since Tuesday. Though locals said he had gone in search of work and would return in a couple of days.
Two of the sisters, aged two and four, had been unwell for a few days. Police are probing as to how the third one also fell ill suddenly.
The father's friend, who had accompanied their mother to the hospital, told police that the children were unwell and he took them to the hospital.
The girls' mother is not mentally sound and told police that she did not know what happened to her daughters and how they died.
The family originally belongs to West Bengal, the police said.
The AAP government was attacked by BJP and Congress after initial postmortem report hinted at starvation as the cause of death in the case.
Attacking the AAP government, Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari said that it is "sad" that such a "mishap" occurred in Delhi where the local government claims to championing ration distribution to the poor, Tiwari said hitting at AAP government.
"It saddens us beyond expression that such an incident happened in the constituency of Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia," he said.
