Burari deaths: Police to go for psychological autopsy of 11 deceased, probe external influence

The mysterious deaths of 11 members of the Bhatia family in North Delhi's Burari have scared the hell out of many across India.

While the Delhi Police has been pointing towards an "occult angle" from the very first day, in a fresh development on Friday, the investigating team has decided to conduct the psychological autopsy to ascertain the psyche of the 11 deceased, who were found dead under mysterious circumstances on July 1.

Psychological autopsy refers to mapping the psyche of the living family members and the mental health of the deceased.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Delhi police claimed to have solved the mystery of Burari horror house, saying that the mass suicide was an act of gratitude to God.

"The family committed suicide in a thankful gesture to god. Lalit was giving the family instructions he had received from the soul of his father, Gopaldas who died 10 years ago. The family has been benefitted from the instructions and started believing in Lalit. From just one shop, they have made it to four shops. Also, the marriage of their ‘manglik’ daughter was fixed," Delhi police said in a statement.

However, the police are still awaiting the final post-mortem and the forensic report. The viscera of the bodies will also be sent for forensic examination to ascertain whether the members were poisoned before hanging.

Read | Burari Deaths: Unthinkable facts that will shake your conscience

The initial autopsy report said that all 11 members had died of hanging and there were no signs of struggle or scuffle.

Ten of the 11 members of the family were found hanging from an iron-mesh in the ceiling on Sunday, 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.

On Wednesday, police had recovered CCTV footage of that dreadful night, which showed some members of the Bhatia family bringing stools and wires that were used for the alleged "suicide pact". They had also found 11 diaries which had “psychological musings” and things about attaining “road to God”.

The diaries recovered from the spot were sent for handwriting analysis, which raised significant questions regarding Lalit Bhatia's involvement in the case.

Lalit, the younger son of the Bhatia family, was very close to his late father Gopaldas and allegedly instigating the family to commit suicide in order to attain salvation. According to him, the instructions were made by the soul of his father Gopaldas, who died in 2008.

Read: NN Exclusive | Watch last video of Lalit Bhatia, the 'brain child' of Burari Deaths

The police has also found notes on 'badh tapasya', in which people get into a banyan tree-formation whose branches hang around. The notes say that doing this would make God happy. These puzzling notes will be sent to writing experts, even though the police are sure that one of the writers of those notes and registers was 33-year-old Priyanka.