Burari deaths: Police question mason who installed 11 pipes, his daughter

New Delhi, July 6: Seeking to unravel the mystery behind the deaths of 11 members of a Burari-based family, the Delhi Police has questioned their employees, including a mason who had installed 11 pipes at their house and his daughter, a senior officer said on Friday. The police are questioning the relatives, neighbours and employees of the family. More than 100 people have been quizzed so far.

The police also questioned Geeta, who according to some reports was the "self-styled god-woman" Lalit had met, for about two hours on Friday. Geeta is the daughter of the mason who had fixed the 11 pipes, the police said.

According to the reports, Lalit had met Geeta recently, and he had told her that he would meet her again on July 10. Geeta told the police she had nothing to do with the deaths. "The only link Geeta has with the family is that she is the daughter of the mason. She told police she had never met Lalit," the officer said.

The police are yet to solve the mystery of the pipes - all 11 of them protruding from a wall facing an empty plot, where there was no water outlet. The Chundawat family had denied any link between the 11 pipes and the deaths. Ten of the 11 members of the deceased family were found hanging from an iron-mesh in the ceiling on Sunday, while the body of 77-year-old Narayan Devi, the head of the family, was lying on the floor in another room of the house. Her daughter Pratibha (57) and her two sons Bhavnesh (50) and Lalit (45) were among the deceased.

Bhavnesh's wife Savita (48) and their three children - Maneka (23), Neetu (25), and Dhirendra (15) were also found dead. The others who were found hanging were Lalit's wife Tina (42), their 15-year-old son Dushyant and Pratibha's daughter Priyanka, who was engaged last month and was supposed to get married by year-end.

On Wednesday, police had recovered CCTV footage that showed some members bringing stools and wires that were used for their hanging. They had also found 11 diaries which had "psychological musings" and things about attaining "road to God".

PTI