11 of family found dead in Delhi, murder suspected
New Delhi, July 1 : Police on Sunday filed a case of "massacre" after finding 11 members of a family, some blindfolded, hanging from an iron grill ceiling in a north Delhi home in what was initially thought to be mass suicide.
After some hours of investigation, Additional Commissioner of Police Vinit Kumar said that the case had been handed over to the Crime Branch.
The gruesome sight of 10 members of the family hanging and a 77-year-old woman lying dead on the floor at Sant Nagar in Burari area sent shockwaves in the neighbourhood and beyond after their images went viral on the social media.
"During investigation, a case of murder has been registered based on the facts and circumstances," Kumar said.
The deceased were identified as Narayani Devi (77), her two sons Bhavnesh (50) and Lalit (45), her daughter-in-laws Savita (48) and Teena (42), her daughter Pratibha (57) as well as Priyanka (33), Nitu (25), Monu (23), Dhruv (15) and Shivam (15). The family hailed from Rajasthan.
Bhavnesh, a grocery store owner, and Lalit, who ran a plywood store, were brothers.
"Their (grocery) shop would open by 6 a.m. daily. When it did not open till 7.30 today, a neighbour, who came to buy milk, checked and found the main door open, prompting him to call the police," Joint Commissioner of Police Rajesh Khurana said.
What police found surprising was that the house was found to have been neither ransacked nor any precious item, including mobile phones, disturbed and missing. The gold jewellery on the bodies of females had not been taken, Kumar said.
A search of the house led to certain hand-written notes which the officer said pointed towards "observance of some definite spiritual and mystical practices by the whole family".
"Incidentally, these notes have strong similarity with the manner in which the mouths, eyes and other parts of the deceased were tied and taped. The same is being investigated further to establish its links with the deaths," the officer added.
A team of doctors has been set up to conduct autopsy. Police are awaiting the forensics and post-mortem report. Officer Khurana said earlier that police were checking the CCTV footage.
A neighbour insisted right in the morning that it could not be mass suicide and that Lalit and Bhavnesh were very friendly persons. "I spoke to Bhavnesh last night. He was very happy and there was no sign of any stress."
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal visited the area in the morning.
"It is a tragic incident. I have spoken to the police. Let's wait for their investigation to be over," Kejriwal told reporters.
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Davanagere South bypoll: Cong Muslim leaders allege internal conspiracy to defeat party candidate
Bengaluru (PTI): A rift within the Karnataka Congress surfaced on Friday, a day after the bypolls to two Assembly constituencies in the state, as a group of Muslim leaders alleged a "conspiracy" by some of their own senior party leaders to defeat the official candidate in Davanagere South.
However, they asserted that despite efforts by some within to project that Congress "betrayed" Muslims, the party candidate Samarth Mallikarjun will win in Davanagere South, the constituency where the community has a significant presence.
Chief Whip in the Legislative Council Saleem Ahmed, MLAs Rizwan Arshad, Yasir Ahmed Khan Pathan, MLC Bilkis Bano, and other Congress leaders addressed a joint press conference regarding this at the party office here.
"It is a sad thing that some senior leaders of our own party have conspired to defeat the Congress, despite this minorities have voted for the Congress. KPCC President (D K Shivakumar), the Chief Minister (Siddaramaiah) and the AICC General Secretary (Randeep Singh Surjewala) are aware of this. People have voted for Congress, its ideology and its five guarantee schemes," Ahmed said.
Noting that Samath Mallikarjun was given a ticket after taking all minority leaders of the party into confidence and following their consent, he said, "But after that because of some misconceptions, conspiracies have been hatched. But still, I'm confident that Congress candidate Samarth will win".
According to party sources, these Muslim leaders have also complained to AICC and state party leadership regarding attempts for "internal sabotage" in Davanagere South.
Though the leaders did not indicate who they were accusing. Several party sources said their attack was directed at Housing Minister B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan, among a few others.
Khan, who had openly demanded the Davanagere South ticket for a Muslim candidate, had initially stayed away from campaigning in the segment, citing his Kerala poll responsibilities. However, he addressed a press meet along with Samarth's father and Minister SS Mallikarjun at the request of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
MLA Arshad said that there was a massive social media campaign against the Congress party, by the BJP, SDPI and Independents, alleging "betrayal" of the minorities by the Congress. Some within the party, too, tried to project the same.
"We indeed demanded a ticket for the minority, and the party considered it. However, since we, as minority leaders, had to provide a unanimous candidate, we only put forward Abdul Jabbar's name because he is the MLC from the region, and he also pressured us. I think we first failed there, as ground-level party workers did not accept it and some other leaders believed he wasn't that popular," he said.
Arshad noted that the party finally named Samarth Mallikarjun as the candidate "after considering all factors and taking all Muslim leaders into confidence".
"However, some of us Muslim leaders who worked for the party's official candidate were projected as anti-Muslim on social media," he claimed.
Some leaders who accepted the party's decision to nominate Samarth as the party candidate during the meeting called to decide it later showed indirect signs of resistance, he said. "An attempt was made by others, including some within the Congress, to project that the Congress has betrayed the Muslims. This has caused us pain."
Bypolls for Davanagere South were held along with Bagalkot on Thursday. The election was necessitated following the death of sitting MLAs Shamanur Shivashankarappa and H Y Meti respectively.
Muslim disgruntlement appears to be a concern for the Congress in Davanagere South. With 14 of the 25 candidates in the fray belonging to the community, there are apprehensions within the party about a split in votes, which could benefit the BJP.
Given its significant presence in the constituency, the Muslim community strongly demanded the Congress ticket for Davanagere South. Some party factions had opposed giving the ticket to the Shamanur family.
Although the Congress was successful in persuading rebel candidate Sadiq Pailwan to withdraw from the contest, he remained in the fray as the move came after the deadline for withdrawal of nominations.
