LUCKNOW/GHAZIABAD: The night was quiet in a Ghaziabad housing society, like most winter nights, until it wasn’t. By early morning, three sisters were gone, their home sealed, their family shattered, and a residential complex left trying to understand how such a loss could happen without warning. The three, who lived together, stayed together, and in the end, died together, leaving behind only handwritten pages and questions that have no easy answers.
Nishika (16), Prachi (14), and Pakhi, (12), lived in flat number 907 on the ninth floor, B-1 Tower, Bharat City residential complex, under Teela Mor police station, in the Loni border area of Ghaziabad. The three were biological sisters—the eldest born to their father Chetan Kumar’s first wife, and the younger two to his second wife. Kumar, a foreign exchange trader, lived in the flat with his two wives, who are sisters, and their five children.
There was an eyewitness to the episode. Arun Kumar Singh, who lives in another tower of the society, said, “Before going to bed, I stepped out onto the balcony to get some fresh air. The flat’s lights were on, and I saw someone sitting on a window ledge/balcony, facing the opposite side, who was repeatedly leaning back. That made me feel that something was wrong,” he said.
He described what he then saw: “Then one child came and hugged the former. It seemed like the third tried to catch them, but they let go of their hands, and all three fell together,” he said, adding that he went downstairs and informed the police, the ambulance service, and the society’s authorities.
The police were informed around 2.15 am. Neighbours later told police that the family largely kept to itself and that the three girls were almost always together, moving as a group in lifts, corridors and common areas. Police said their closeness was so intense that they “stayed together all the time”.
According to the police reconstruction, on the intervening night of February 3-4, the household had gone to sleep sometime before midnight. Assistant Police Commissioner Atul Kumar Singh said that around 12.30 am, the three girls were with their mothers. After some time, they went into a smaller room in the apartment—a puja room—and locked it from the inside.
Inside that room, investigators later found what would become central to the case. A diary lay open, with 18 pages forming what police described as a suicide note. The main handwritten note spanned several pages and bore the title “True Life Story”. On one page, the girls had written instructions asking the reader to read the diary in full, stating that everything in it was true. Family photographs were scattered on the floor nearby, and a crying caricature had been drawn in the diary.
Didn’t go to school for 2 years, played games all day: Father
Police officers who examined the writing said it contained repeated apologies, mainly to their father. The words “Sorry Papa” appeared more than once. One note addressed to the parents read: “Mom-Dad, sorry… we cannot quit the game. Now you will realise how much we loved the game, which you wanted us to give up.”
Another line, later confirmed by the father, stated: “Sorry, Papa, we could not leave the game. The Korean game is our life, our world.” The sisters consistently used “we” rather than “I”, indicating a shared mental and emotional state.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Trans-Hindon) Nimish Patil said, “According to the investigation so far, all three girls were influenced by Korean culture -- Korean cinema, music, and some games also had an influence on them. In general, they had become highly addicted to mobile phones. Because of this, when their family members restricted their mobile phone usage, they took this step, which led to the incident. So far, the investigation has not revealed any evidence related to online gaming or any game-based tasks.” Chetan Kumar later told investigators and reporters that his daughters had been playing the game for nearly three years. “They had not been attending school for the past two years. They played games all day long. They did not talk to the people around them. They often said that they wanted to go to Korea,” he said.
The diary also revealed that the family was aware of the girls’ obsession. Police sources said their parents would sometimes snatch their mobile phones and restrict usage. On the night of the incident, the father had allegedly forbidden the girls from playing the game and scolded them. “At the time of the incident, my wife and I were sleeping with our son. The girls were resting in the other room,” Kumar said. “We heard a noise and ran. We saw that the room was locked. Then we broke down the door and found the girls were not there. We ran downstairs and saw the girls lying on the ground.”
The bodies have been sent for post-mortem examination. Mobile phones belonging to the sisters were recovered inside the locked room, suggesting they had been deliberately set aside. Police have seized the phones for forensic analysis.
(If you are having suicidal thoughts, or are worried about a friend or need emotional support, someone is always there to listen. Call Sneha Foundation - 04424640050, Tele Manas - 14416 (available 24x7) or iCall, the Tata Institute of Social Sciences' helpline - 02225521111, which is available Monday to Saturday from 8 am to 10 pm.)