Autopsies hint at suicide by Delhi family: Police
New Delhi, July 2: Autopsies conducted on 11 members of a family found dead in their north Delhi home suggest that they committed suicide, police said on Monday even as an occultist and his aide were detained for questioning.
On the other hand, deceased Narayani Devi's eldest son Dinesh has submitted a complaint at the Burari police station to demand registration of a case against unidentified persons for what he called "killing his family".
"I was informed by a neighbour of my brother's family that my brothers, mother and other family members were found dead in their house in Delhi. I reached Delhi on Sunday night and suspect that someone killed them. They have not died in a ritual which went wrong," Dinesh said.
"Every Hindu family performs worship, havans and kirtans. Thus, my family also did it. What is unusual in it? It doesn't mean that some godman or occultists killed them. I had visited them 10 days ago. The entire family was happy as my sister Pratibha's daughter Priyanka had got engaged," he said.
The dead were meanwhile cremated at the Nigambodh Ghat here by family members and relatives amid heavy police deployment.
Joint Commissioner of Police Alok Kumar said initial post-mortem reports revealed that the bodies bore no marks of either strangulation or scuffle, indicating that it may either be a case of mass suicide or murder-suicide.
"A medical board of six doctors conducted the autopsies. It revealed that 10 family members died of hanging. Only Narayani Devi died due of strangulation. Further investigation is underway," Kumar said.
Another police officer, who did not want to be named, said the report firms up the police suspicion that the deaths were part of a suicide pact carried out as a religious practice.
The police is matching fingerprints of the deceased and suspects that someone from among the dead may have strangulated Narayani Devi before his or her hanging.
The autopsies also suggested that of the 11, six family members had dinner before their deaths.
Earlier, police said it had seized handwritten notes in the prayer area of the two-storey house in Sant Nagar in Burari, revealing a possible mystical connection to the deaths.
All but one of the bodies were found hanging from the ceiling and pipes. Most of them were blindfolded, gagged and their hands tied behind their back. As many as 11 pipes with different angles were found installed in a house wall.
The oldest, Narayan Devi, 77, was found on the floor with signs of strangulation.
The notes hinting at mysticism were found in a diary in the prayer area. The texts of pages discussed spirituality, salvation, rituals and few dates of last month. The notes were written on June 27 and 28 on the day of 'Vat Purnima'.
Articles used as offerings durign pratyers and rituals such as ghee, incense burner and grains were also recovered.
The police suspected an occultist or a godman behind the deaths.
The officer said that the notes had instructions like "everyone should be blindfolded properly, nothing but zenith should be visible to the eyes.
"When you all were hanging during that period, God will miraculously appear and save you all at the moment."
The police officer said almost every instruction in the note seemed to have been followed by the family for "obtaining salvation".
The deceased were Narayani Devi's sons Bhavnesh Bhatia, 50, and Lalit Bhatia, 45, and daughters Pratibha, 57, and Priyanka, 33.
Bhavnesh's wife Savita, 48, and their children Nitu, 25, Monu, 23, and Dhruv, 15, were also found dead along with Lalit's wife Tina, 42, and their son Shivam, 15.
The Bhatias ran a grocery stone and a plywood outlet in the neighbourhood.
Dinesh lives in Rajasthan's Kota while his another sister Sujata lives in Panipat in Haryana.
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Balendra Shah's RSP makes history, registers landmark victory in Nepal elections
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Kathmandu (PTI): Rapper-turned-politician Balendra Shah's RSP is all set to form the next government in Nepal after securing sweeping victory in crucial general elections on Saturday, decimating the established parties in the politically fragile nation.
Popularly known as Balen, the 35-year-old prime ministerial candidate of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) defeated four-time prime minister KP Sharma Oli, the chair of Nepal's legacy party, the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist) -- CPN-UML -- by a huge margin of about 50,000 votes in Jhapa-5 constituency.
Balen, 35, secured 68,348 votes against 74-year-old Oli's 18,734, the Election Commission (EC) said.
He is expected to be the next prime minister of Nepal, reflecting a public mood of rejection of established parties. The RSP, which was formed in 2022 by Ravi Lamichhane, has won 72 seats out of the 90 seats for which results were declared by 9:30 pm, according to the Election Commission (EC).
RSP's seats include a clean sweep in all 10 constituencies of Kathmandu district even as it is leading in 52 seats across the country, the EC data showed.
Legacy parties failed to convince voters for whom the major issues included fighting corruption and an end to nepotism apart from a generational change in political leadership of the Himalayan nation.
The Nepali Congress (NC) won 10 and was leading in eight seats; the CPN-(UML) won just four seats and is leading in eight; the Nepali Communist Party (NCP) won two seats and is leading in five, the Shrama Shakti Party (SSP) was leading in three seats, and the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) won one seat, the EC data showed. Among the winners is one independent.
Nepal witnessed about 60 per cent voter turnout during the March 5 elections to the House of Representatives. The counting of votes started late Thursday night and as of 9:30 pm Saturday, counting was in progress in the remaining of the total 165 constituencies, the Election Commission said.
The election was being closely watched by India, which is hoping for a stable government in the politically fragile Himalayan nation to take forward the developmental partnership between the two sides.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday congratulated the people and government of Nepal for the successful conduct of elections. “It is heartening to see my Nepali sisters and brothers exercise their democratic rights so vibrantly. This historic milestone is a proud moment in Nepal's democratic journey,” Modi said in a post on X.
Modi also said that as a close friend and neighbour, India remains steadfast in its commitment to working closely with the people of Nepal and its new government to scale new heights of shared peace, progress and prosperity.
Oli, who too was projected as the PM face of the CPN-UML, wished Balen for a full five year tenure for his government in the Himalayan nation that has seen 14 governments in the last 18 years.
“Balen babu, congratulations for the victory. I wish your five year tenure be trouble free, successful and hearty congratulations,” Oli wrote in his social media post and attached a 2022 photo showing him gifting a tabla to Balen after the rapper-turned-politician won Kathmandu mayor's election as an independent.
The RSP, which projected Balendra Shah 'Balen' as its prime ministerial candidate and had organised its first election campaign in Janakpur in Madhesh, is heading towards a clean sweep of the province.
‘Balen’, as he is popularly known, projected himself as the “son of Madhesh” during the campaign, with the party launching the campaign with 'Ab ki bar Balendra Sarkar' (This time there will be Balendra’s government) tagline.
Of the total 32 seats in eight districts of Madhesh province, the RSP has won eight and is leading in 22 other constituencies, the EC said.
The party is also making a clean sweep in the Kathmandu Valley winning all 10 seats of Kathmandu district and two in Bhaktapur and two in Lalitpur district.
The party is also leading in the remaining one seat of the Kathmandu Valley with a huge margin, possibly as a result of a massive road show led by Balen in all 15 constituencies on the last day of the election campaign.
RSP chairman Lamichhane won with a huge margin from Chitwan-2 constituency, marking his third consecutive victory with 54,402 votes against his nearest rival NC's Mina Kumari Kharel, who received 14,564 votes.
According to the Election Commission, former prime minister and NCP leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda won from Rukum Purba district by securing 10,240 votes against his rival Lilamani Gautam of CPN-(UML), who got 3,462 votes.
RPP's Gyanendra Shahi won from the Jumla constituency of Karnali province by defeating his closest rival Naresh Bhandari of the NCP and became the only candidate of the pro-monarchist RPP to have secured a seat in the House of Representatives.
The election also saw 10 women candidates win, nine of them from the RSP while one from NC.
Meanwhile, the RSP is also leading in proportional voting system with the party bagging 474,266 votes followed by Nepali Congress with 160,384. The CPN (UML) has received 127,841, Nepali Communist Party 65,363, the RPP 34,154, and Shrama Shakti Party 17,437 votes till now.
Out of a total of 275 members of the Parliament, 165 are being elected through direct voting, while the remaining 110 through a proportionate method.
Around 3,400 candidates were vying for 165 seats under direct voting, and 3,135 candidates for 110 seats through proportionate voting.
The Gen Z youth, through their two-day intensified protests on September 8 and 9 last year, ousted Prime Minister Oli of the CPN-(UML), who was heading a coalition government with the backing of Nepali Congress that enjoyed nearly two-thirds majority support.
Though Balen was a popular choice to lead the interim government after Oli's ouster, he declined to lead the interim administration, saying he would prefer to contest the parliamentary election for a full term.
In January, he joined the RSP and was soon declared the party's prime ministerial candidate.
The major issues raised by Gen Z before and during the election campaign were anti-corruption, good governance, an end to nepotism, generational change in political leadership, etc.
Sunil Babu Pant, former MP and a political analyst, said, “The victory of Rastriya Swatantra Party in the March 5 elections and the expectation that Balen Shah could emerge as Nepal's next Prime Minister reflects the people's deep rooted frustration with the old political order and their hope for a new direction.”
“As Balen assumes the country's leadership, his first responsibility must be to demonstrate that corruption will not be tolerated under any circumstances,” he said.
Balen will also face a complex geopolitical challenge, Pant said, adding, “He must prove that he is not a puppet of any external power, western or otherwise. Nepal's leadership must carefully balance relations with all global actors and pursue an independent foreign policy that prioritises the national interest.”
