11 found dead in Delhi family home

The bodies of 11 people have been found in a home in Delhi after an apparent mass suicide. At least six of them had died by hanging.

A neighbour discovered the macabre scene in the Burari district of the Indian capital on Sunday, NDTV reports.

“All but one of the bodies were hanging from the ceiling; most of them were blindfolded, gagged and their hands tied behind the back,” the news site reports.

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The body of Narayan Devi, 77, whose neck showed signs consistent with strangulation, was found on the ground. Her three adult children and their families, including two 15-year-old boys, were suspended from an iron grille on the first floor, according to local media.

Indian TV channel News 18 reported that a “liquid chemical” had been found in the stomachs of at least five of the deceased and that a post-mortem indicated that Devi had strangled herself with a belt.

Police have confirmed that handwritten notes were found at the scene indicating “observance of some definite spiritual/mystical practices by the whole family”.

An officer told the Hindustan Times that the notes appeared to contain guidelines for suicide, and that one claimed that “the moment they hanged themselves and began gasping for breath, they would see God saving them”.

Based on an unspecified “clue” found at the scene, police are now searching for a tantric spiritual leader believed to have been in contact with the family, First Post reports.

A family friend told the Hindustan Times that the family, who ran a grocery shop, were practising Hindus who had become “very spiritual” around ten years ago, after one of Devi’s sons made a “miraculous” recovery from a workplace accident.

However, speculation that the deaths could have been connected to mystical or occult practices met with disbelief among surviving relatives.

“They believed in God, but who believes in such things?” one relative said. “They were educated people and not superstitious.”