Jodhpur mass suicide: After a two-and-a-half-year investigation, the Jodhpur Police has said the suicide by 11 members of a Pakistani Hindu migrant family in 2020 was the result of a "family dispute". The fresh revelation came as the police submitted a final report in the court on Saturday.
In a shocking incident, on August 9, 2020, as many as 11 members of the family were found dead at their farm in Lodta village of Jodhpur's Dechu tehsil. A case had been registered against some other family members and a few people of the community for abetment of suicide.
Psychological autopsy report took long time
Following the submission of the final report in the court last week, an official associated with the probe said the investigation was delayed because the psychological autopsy report by the Central Forensic Science Laboratory took a long time.
The deceased were identified as Budharam Bheel (75); his wife Antara Devi (70); son Ravi (31); daughters Priya (25) and Suman (22); grandsons Mukdash (17) and Nain (12); Laxmi (40) and three minor sons of Kewal Ram, the surviving member of the family. The case was registered based on Kewal Ram's complaint.
Police had last year said they found no direct involvement of those whose names had been mentioned by two of the family members in their video clip and note.
Family was injected with poison-laced injections
It is believed that Laxmi and Priya were practising nurses and they administered poison-laced injections to all after giving them some psychotropic drug mixed in the dinner. They both are the signatories of the note.
Police had found some chemical and injectable vials from the hut leading the police to believe that some poisonous substance had been administered to all those who died.
They were Hindu migrants from Pakistan and belonged to the Bhil community and had been living on the farm in the village, which they had hired for farming.
Police harrasment
Police had also found a note written in Hindi and a video created by the daughters, mentioning the threats from some of the community members (or leaders) and harassment by police.
In her account, Laxmi had clearly narrated the ordeal the family had been through, since their arrival from Pakistan's Sindh Province in 2015 and cited a racket involving some community members.
But police concluded that there was no abetment for the mass suicide, and said it was a case of family dispute, according to the official.
Meanwhile, Hindu Singh Sodha, who heads the Seemant Lok Sangathan, an organization working for the rights of Hindu migrants from Pakistan, termed the final report of the investigation a "disappointment".
"It is nothing but a clear attempt to save the abettors of this suicide and has given rise to a sense of insecurity in the community," he said.
Sodha said his organisation will assess the final report in detail and take a call on challenging it in court.
(With inputs from PTI)
