Burari hangings: Crime Branch suspects Lalit visited cremation grounds
New Delhi, July 6: The Delhi Police Crime Branch investigating the June 30 hanging of 11 members of a Burari family here suspects that one of the deceased, Lalit Bhatia, visited cremation grounds and was interested in ghosts and spirits, an official said on Friday.
The theory was based on an entry in the registers seized from the house in Sant Nagar in north Delhi. Police has said the handwriting is of Lalit's now-dead niece Priyanka.
The Crime Branch official said Priyanka had 'liked' a Facebook page hosting content on ghosts as well as pages with spiritual content, astrology and motivational thoughts.
He said Lalit researched death and the mysteries of soul, apart from watching on his mobile phone the videos on paranormal and ghosts on 'YouTube' and other Internet platforms.
A Crime Branch team has also visited Rajasthan's Udaipur to quiz the family of Lalit's wife Tina, who was among the 11 family members found hanging on June 30.
"We wanted to know if Tina had shared something about Lalit or the activities of her in-laws with her family. It will help us analyse the nature of Lalit and other dead family members," a senior official said on the condition of anonymity.
Besides, the Crime Branch recorded the statement of 13 relatives who stayed at the Sant Nagar house for 10 days from June 14 onwards due to engagement of Priyanka that was held on June 16. After they returned to their respective homes, Lalit had started the ritual from June 24 that finally ended with the hanging of 11 family members, police claims.
"These relatives can reveal what they felt while staying with the family, especially Lalit's behaviour in these 10 days," the officer said.
The Crime Branch has given a clean chit to occultist Geeta Ma who was in touch with the family, even a section of media had claimed her involvement, Deputy Commissioner of Police Joy N. Tirkey said.
Investigators are convinced that it was a case of mass suicide during a ritual performed by the family which was suffering from a shared psychological disorder.
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Confident we are going to win Kerala: Shashi Tharoor
New Delhi (PTI): Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Thursday expressed confidence in the victory of the United Democratic Front (UDF) in Kerala, saying the Congress-led alliance will win more than 75 seats out of the total 140 in the state.
Tharoor, who hails from Kerala, said he was not surprised to see the results of the exit polls, most of which predicted a victory for the UDF that has been out of power for 10 years in the state.
"We have been on the ground. I have campaigned in 59 constituencies across 12 districts out of 14. I was very confident we are going to win.
"Everything that I have picked up from not just my party colleagues and workers but also from other observers, media and others have always convinced me that we were going to score a comfortable win of above 75 seats. And all the (exit) polls have confirmed the same thing," he told reporters here.
The Thiruvananthapuram MP said he was not surprised to see the results of the exit polls but in general he was not a big fan of exit polls in India.
"Because ours is not purely a homogenous society. We have to take into account gender issue, caste issue, class issue, regional disparities. You never get a convincingly large enough sample to give an accurate poll and now there is the additional complication that we have heard about in West Bengal this year that many people are unwilling to answer the questions of the pollsters," he said.
The Congress leader said normally, it used to be below 10 per cent that people said that they would not answer.
"Even if you are a reputable exit pollster, in Bengal, one polling company has said 60 per cent of people refused to answer. So, what is the worth of a poll where 60 per cent of your respondents have not answered," he said.
Several exit polls on Wednesday predicted a comeback by the Congress-led UDF in Kerala after 10 years, dethroning the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF).
Polling for the 140-member Kerala assembly was held on April 9. Results of assembly elections in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Puducherry, besides Kerala, will be announced on May 4.
