A couple and their minor daughter were found dead at their rented home in Begampur’s Rajiv Nagar Extension on Sunday morning.
The bodies of the mother and daughter, which bore strangulation marks, were found on a bed. The man, meanwhile, was found hanging.
Note recovered
The police now suspect that the man killed them before committing suicide.
Lending further credence to the police’s theory was a hand-written suicide note that was recovered.
Believed to have been written by the man, who held himself responsible for the action, the note requested the police to not harass anyone for what he described was a ‘collective action by all three members of the family’.
‘Suicide pact’
According to the note, the trio had willingly entered into a suicide pact.
However, little is known about why and under what circumstances the family took the extreme step.
No apparent problem
The Hindu spoke to neighbours, relatives, and even the police, all of whom said that there was no apparent problem that Rajesh Gupta, his Uma and their daughter Shweta faced.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Rohini) M.N. Tiwari said the incident came to light around 9.15 a.m. on Sunday when one of the neighbours, Babloo, came by to collect his keys.
Babloo lives on the first floor of the single-storey house where Gupta lived on the ground floor. Both of them were tenants.
Neighbours shocked
“The main entrance is common. It is locked up from inside every night and the keys remained with him [Gupta]. Usually, I would find it open as the Guptas were early risers. Since that was not the case today, I assumed the change was because it was Sunday. When I went to check, I found the door unlatched. I was shocked upon entering the house,” he said.
The police team that arrived at the spot said it had to break open the main entrance before they could get to the door leading to the Gupta residence.
The trio were then rushed to a nearby hospital, where doctors pronounced them dead on arrival.
The police say that the incident was likely to have happened on Saturday night.
Babloo, meanwhile, said that he last saw the family alive on Saturday night when they were watching TV like most other days.
“The note purportedly written by Gupta did not have any details that could reveal anything about the family, for instance, if Gupta was stressed or facing a financial crisis,” said the officer.
Came to Delhi 12 years ago
Hailing from Faizabad in Uttar Pradesh, the deceased had moved to the Capital 12 years ago in search of a livelihood.
He initially worked as a taxi driver, but later purchased a tempo and transported goods from one place to another.
‘No financial crisis’
“After my brother-in-law had an accident some months ago, he employed a driver. There was no financial crisis as my brother-in-law earned not less than ₹20,000 every month even after after clearing all regular expenses,” said Keshav Gupta, a relative of the deceased.
