NEW DELHI: Three members of a family were found dead after inhaling toxic fumes from an angithi on Saturday evening inside a flat in southwest Delhi’s Vasant Vihar area, said police. Manju Devi (55) and her two daughters Anshika (26) and Ankita (30) had been depressed after the family head Umesh Srivastava died of COVID-19 last year. Financial difficulties had made their lives more miserable, their relatives said.
The police added that an alleged suicide note was also found in the house.
“Deadly gas inside the house. Please open the window for ventilation. Do not light any candle or matchstick and be careful while removing the curtain because room is full of hazardous gas. Do not inhale. Open the inside window from outside,” the letter read.
The note was taped to the wall to alert and give instructions to anyone who tries to enter the house, said the police. The police received information on Saturday at 8.55 pm that flat number 207 of Vasant Apartment in Vasant Vihar was locked from inside and the people inside were not responding, a senior police officer said. Officers probing the case said that incident looks like a “suicide pact” as the family had sealed their window panes with foil and tape.
According to Deputy Commissioner of police (Southwest) Manoj C, the family was depressed. “Manju’s husband died in April 2021 of Covid and since then the family had been depressed. Manju was bedridden due to illness. Prima facie, it appears that they died due to suffocation,” he added.
On Saturday at around 8.55 pm, the police received a PCR call about the incident after neighbours knocked on the door but no one answered. The caller informed the police that the house was locked from
the inside and no one was opening the door.