NEW DELHI: The Delhi police on Friday detained numerous people, including a “female occult practitioner”, in an attempt to unravel the mysterious death of 11 members of a family in Burari.
Over 100 people have been questioned so far in connection with the death, based on the call record accessed by the police, and many more are yet to be questioned, according to the officials.
Among the detained, from employees to relatives, was a mason who had installed 11 pipes at their house and his daughter Geeta, said to be a self-styled god-woman, who had met Lalit.
Lalit was among the 10 found hanging from an iron-mesh in the ceiling on July 1 and is suspected to have planned to mass suicide as a "thanksgiving ritual". However, Geeta has denied her links between the 11 pipes and the deaths. “The only link Geeta has with the family is that she is the daughter of the mason. She told police she had never met Lalit,” an officer said.
Ten of the 11 members of the family were found hanging from an iron-mesh in the ceiling on July 1, while the body of 77-year-old Narayan Devi, the head of the family, was lying on the floor in another room of the house.
Her daughter Pratibha (57) and two sons Bhavnesh (50) and Lalit (45) were among the deceased. Bhavnesh's wife Savita (48) and their three children - Maneka (23), Neetu (25), and Dhirendra (15) were also found dead.
The others who were found hanging were Lalit's wife Tina (42), their son Dushyant (15) and Pratibha's daughter Priyanka, who was engaged last month and was supposed to get married by year-end.