The police in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, are looking into the deaths of three minor sisters who jumped from the ninth floor of their apartment building earlier this week. They provided new details on Saturday saying the initial findings suggest that emotional distress related to family problems and the confiscation of their mobile phones played a role.
The sisters, Nishika (16), Prachi (14) and Pakhi (12), died after jumping from a residential tower in Bharat City Society, located in the Trans-Hindon Police Station area.
The three sisters experienced significant mental stress after their father, Chetan Kumar, took away their phones and sold them to pay for electricity bills. He claimed that their excessive use of Korean content was the reason for his actions.
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As a result of this, the girls could not play online games or talk to friends they had made through Korean apps. The police later reported that the phones were sold.
Chetan Kumar, a stockbroker, was Rs 2 crore in debt and struggled to support the family, according to a report by NDTV.
The events that unfolded on night of tragedy
On the fateful night of the tragedy, the sisters allegedly took their mother's phone but were unable to access the Korean apps that they had been using together.
A forensic examination of the cell phone found no evidence to support this and fingerprints, including those from the handwritten note and the messages recovered from the scene have been sent to the forensic laboratory. The details are awaited, said DCP (Trans Hindon) Nimish Patil said on Saturday, according to The Times of India.
Furthermore, the police have also confirmed that Kumar currently has three wives, Sujata, Heena and Tina. They are all biological sisters. Sujata is Nishika's mother, while Heena is the mother of Prachi and Pakhi.
The investigators reported that the three girls appeared to be closer to their father than they were to their mothers. The evidence to support this was found in the contents of the suicide note which addressed the father, but did not mention the mother.
The cyber crime units are working on tracking down those who purchased the cell phones using their respective IMEI numbers in order to retrieve the data related to the Korean application, stated Patil and the case is being investigated in multiple directions, stated Patil.
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Family's gory past
The investigation is also considering the family's previous history.
The live-in partner of Kumar died in 2015 after falling from the roof of a building in Rajendra Nagar Colony, located under the jurisdiction of Sahibabad Police Station. The subsequent investigation concluded the death to be a suicide and the police then declared the investigation complete.
Preliminary probe and the discovery of a nine-page diary found in the sisters' bedroom suggests that they had a strong emotional connection to Korean culture and there may have been ongoing difficulties within their family.
Officers revealed that one of the sisters, Nishika, was given a mobile phone approximately three months ago, while for the other sister, Prachi, a mobile phone was purchased approximately 15 days prior to the tragedy, said The Times of India in its report.
The sisters were cremated on Wednesday evening at Nigam Bodh Ghat in Delhi.
