NEW DELHI: In the summer of 2018, the city woke up to the horror of a family of 11 being found dead at home. It had transpired that the head of the family, Lalit Bhatia, was obsessed to reunite with his deceased father, Gopal Das Bhatia. His family, entrapped in his delusional world, ultimately paid the price as they hung themselves as part of a ritual guided by Lalit.The youngest was 15 and the oldest 77.
Years later, city cops seem to be grappling with a case unfolding on similar lines, or so it seems. This time, there are five of a family, aged between 50 and 26 years.
In Burari, Bhatia’s hallucinations had convinced him that his father’s spirit was guiding him, leading him down a dark path. He attempted to organise a “meeting” with his dead father, setting in motion a chain of events that would culminate in the tragedy. The priority of investigators in the Rangpuri case is to ascertain if there was a similar attempt being made by Heeralal whose wife had passed away a few months ago.
The investigators in Burari had a big help — diaries were recovered from the spot, detailing Bhatia’s descent into the obsession. They chronicled his imaginary conversations with his deceased father and provided a step-by-step account of the family’s mass suicide.
The diaries exposed a mind consumed by obsession, with entries spanning years. Bhatia documented his father’s supposed directives from 2015 till the family’s final hours. “Pattiyan achchhe se baandhni hai.. Shunya ke alaawa kuch nahi dikhna chahiye.. Rassi ke saath sooti chunniyan ya sari ka prayog karna hai (Everyone should be blindfolded properly, nothing but zenith should be visible to the eyes. A chunni or a sari should be used along with a rope),” read one of the last pages of the diary.
The notes even specified the favourable day and time on which these ‘kriyas’ should be performed. “Saat din bad pooja lagataar karni hai.. thoda lagan aur shraddha se.. Koi ghar me aa jaaye to agle din.. Guruvaar ya Ravivaar ko chunein… (Worship the banyan tree for seven days at a stretch with devotion. If somebody comes home, do it the next day. Choose Thursday or Sunday as the day of the act).”
The condition in which the bodies were found had stark similarities with what was written in the diary. While everyone was standing, ‘bebbe’ (Narayani, 77) was lying in a separate room. The note on her read, “Bebbe khadi nahi ho sakti to alag kamre me late sakti hain (The elderly woman can’t stand, so she can lie down in another room).” The notes even specified the favourable time as midnight to 1am.
The family followed the script, unaware of the horror. They performed a havan, ordered 20 rotis and went on to kill themselves to attain the ‘ultimate salvation’.
In Rangpuri, police don’t have a diary or notes yet. All they have are interviews from relatives, friends, colleagues and neighbours. Reaching the crux of this curious saga will be a formidable challenge.
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