A relative of the Bhatia family who stayed with them for eight days, from June 16 to June 23, said that he never saw anyone writing anything and they all behaved like any other family.
Avi, a nephew of deceased Teena, told The Hindu that he was from Indore and had come for the engagement of 33-year-old Priyanka on June 17. He extended his stay at the house for a few days along with the other relatives.
Describing a regular day in the family’s life, he said that the two women — Teena (42) and her sister-in-law Savita (48) — woke up at the break of dawn around 5 a.m. “to prepare food for school, college and office-going members of the family”.
Performed puja thrice
The two minor boys slept till about 8 a.m because the summer vacation was on. The girls, Nitu (25), Meenu (23) and Priyanka would go to work and, Lalit (42) and Bhupinder (46) would go to their respective shops.
“But all of them used to perform puja thrice a day, the time of which was fixed: 8 a.m., 12 p.m. and 10 p.m. They would chant Hanuman Chalisa and Gayatri mantra . It would go on for 10-15 minutes,” he said, adding that those present at that time would attend the puja. “There was no rule to attend though,” he said.
In the afternoon, after lunch, the women of the house would rest for a while and after waking up, would watch television before starting to prepare dinner. “Lalit uncle and Bhupinder uncle used to come home for lunch whenever time permitted,” he said.
The nephew said that he never saw Lalit behaving in any unusual manner or saying something different. “I never saw any notebooks or anyone writing anything in the house,” he claimed.
Relatives quizzed
Teena’s three sisters who were questioned by the police on Tuesday told The Hindu that “she was someone who used to give hope to people and never believed in any superstition or god-men. In fact, no family member did”.
One of the sisters, a resident of Chittorgarh who refused to be named, said that she spoke to Teena around 10.30 p.m. on the night of the incident.
“We talked generally about family. There was nothing unusual,” she said. The youngest sister said she spoke to Teena around 8.30 p.m. and the deceased was making plans of meeting them. “I was at our mother’s house and she said that she would figure out a few days for all our sisters to meet at our mother’s house soon,” she said.
Talking about Lalit’s relationship with his father Bhopal Singh, who passed away in 2008, Teena’s relatives said, he was very close to him and the father also loved him dearly. His death left an impact on Lalit, but he had overcome the incident. “None of our family members knew if his father’s spirit used to come in his body. Generally, such things are not hidden in families,” said Teena’s brother-in-law.
