Delhi Rangpuri shocker: Cops suspect man sunk into 'depression' after wife's death

NEW DELHI: Rangpuri in southwest Delhi has been rocked by the discovery of the decomposed bodies of five members of a family – a man and his four daughters, all in their twenties – in their third-floor flat, days after he is suspected to have poisoned them, and then himself died by suicide.

The motive is still unclear but 50-year-old Heeralal Sharma’s family seems to have withdrawn from social interactions after his wife died of cancer about a year ago.

The frail health of his daughters – Neetu (26), Nikki (24), Neeru (23) and Nidhi (20) – and the fact that at least two of them suffered from some form of disability must have weighed very heavily on the mind of Heeralal, who worked as a carpenter.

The bodies were found on Friday though all five are suspected to have died on Sept 24, once again underlining the impersonal nature of neighbourhoods in the city where the assurance of society acting as a safety net has all but vanished.

The building has three floors with seven flats each where 21 other families also live but no one had any interaction with them.

A resident, Rinki, said Heeralal’s wife, Kanti Devi, had been the only one who interacted with the neighbours and her death had virtually cut off the family from everyone.

The incident came to light when building owner Nitin Chauhan was told by someone that a foul smell was emanating from the flat. Chauhan called up the cops after he went knocking but got no response.

The police forced their way in and found Heeralal’s body on a cot; his daughters’ bodies were on a bed in another room, all showing signs of having decomposed.

The cops have recovered CCTV footage showing Heeralal carrying a packet of sweets while entering the building on Sept 24, the last time he was spotted in public.

The packet has been sent to a forensic lab to determine if the sweets were laced with poison and had been given to his daughters.

A red thread found tied around the neck and waist of all four sisters has led the police to probe if some religious or occult practice was behind the tragedy. A blade, possibly used by Heeralal to slit his wrist, was also discovered.

A relative, Gudiya Sharma, told TOI that all the daughters had completed their graduation in different fields, indicating that the family had once pursued dreams but things went horribly wrong, sending them down the spiral of death.

Police are investigating the case as a murder-suicide with preliminary evidence suggesting poisoning as the cause of death. A medical board has been constituted for conducting the autopsies which could shed new light.

Conjectures apart, the motive behind the deaths remains unclear. Cops suspect Sharma had sunk into depression following his wife’s demise. His phone records indicate no activity after 7pm on Sept 24, suggesting the incident had occurred around that time.

Sharma worked as a carpenter at a hospital for 28 years but hadn’t gone back to work since January this year. Neighbours and relatives said he had withdrawn from family affairs after his wife’s death and his daughters rarely left their room. “He was always preoccupied with the treatment of his daughters at one hospital or another,” police said.
While police confirmed that two of his daughters, Neeru and Nidhi, suffered from disabilities, neighbours said all four had medical issues.

A case under section 194 of BNSS, related to probing a suicide, has been registered. The cops are also probing whether there was a suicide pact.