NEW DELHI: The three children, whose decomposed bodies were found along with their parents', had been absent from their school in Yamuna Vihar since February 3, their relatives said.
Their father Shambu Chaudhary’s brother Roshan and his cousin, Deenanath visited the children’s school after getting to know about the incident. "From the school, we got to know that the children have been absent since February 3," Deenanath said, hinting that the incident occurred more than a week back.
The bodies of Shivam (17), Sachin (14) and Komal (12) were found inside their house in C Block, Bhajanpura along with their 43-year-old father and 37-year-old mother Sunita on Wednesday.
The neighbours who entered the house along with the police after informing them about the foul smell, said that Shivam’s eyes were blindfolded with a black cloth. The victims' kin and neighbours said that it "can’t be a case of suicide".
According to Srikant Sharma, who said that he made the PCR call, there were dry stains of blood in the house and the clothes were scattered.
"I had inquired about the smell but the other tenants said it must be coming from the blocked sewer lines. But it was intense so I informed the police. The polythene with which the window was covered was split and the door was locked from inside... seems like someone must have entered and exited from there," Sharma said.
Clearly, the victims didn’t have much interaction with people in the locality as the neighbours didn’t question their house having been locked for several days. They complained to police only after they found the foul smell emanating from the locked house.
Shambu’s younger brother, Roshan, 20, returned from Bihar on Tuesday afternoon. "I got a call from my cousin sometime after I returned. Our parents are still in Bihar," Roshan said, adding that even though Shambu was “not in regular contact” with his family, their parents were shocked at the incident.
"He used to remain aloof. He has been living separately for the last 20 years," Roshan said. Roshan, who lives in Burari with his parents, said that he spoke to Shambu about 20 days back.
"He sounded fine. There was no animosity with anyone. His relationship with his wife was fine and he never complained about any financial crisis," Roshan said, adding: "If there was a problem, someone would have known. This is not a suicide."
Shambhu, he said, used to run a fruit juice bar about a year ago and bought an e-rickshaw in the winter season. Shambhu is survived by his parents, a brother and three sisters. Two of his sisters reside in Delhi while another lives in Bihar. His parents stay with his brother in Burari and have been in their village for about two months. Police haven’t denied the possibility of murder or suicide.