The Delhi Police are probing both the murder and suicide angles in the mysterious death of the 17-year-old girl at her employer’s house in Mangolpuri here. No case had been registered till late Wednesday evening.
This is after claims and counter-claims from the girl’s family and that of her employer on the sequence of events leading up to her death.
The girl, the resident at a JJ Colony in Deepali Enclave, reported for work at the house of Atul Verma at 2 p.m. Her burnt body was found a couple of hours later.
Quoting Mr. Verma’s family, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Outer) Vikramjit Singh told The Hindu that the girl locked herself in a bathroom attached to one of the rooms. “They told us that she had bolted the door of the room as well, thus putting two levels of barriers between them and herself,” he said.
The employers also told the police that the girl was carrying kerosene in a plastic jar which she used for self-immolation. The Vermas purportedly claimed that they saw smoke coming out of the room which made them suspicious.
“They said because the doors were closed, they could not enter. They had to break open the door and remove the wire mesh on the bathroom window to enter inside and discover the body. After this, they informed us and her father about the maid’s suicide,” said Mr. Singh.
Contrary to the claims by the girl’s mother that it was their family who found the body, her father is learnt to have confirmed to the police that he was informed about his daughter’s death by her employers.
The girl’s family also claimed that the knife found lying next to her charred body was used to inflict injuries on her.
According to the police, while they were waiting for the post-mortem report to ascertain whether there were any external injuries on the body, they suspect that it was used to open the kerosene jar.
