Three of family found dead inside IIT-Delhi campus

New Delhi: Three members including two women of a family were found hanging inside the Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi premises on Friday. Initial investigations suggest that the nature of the death seems to be suicidal hanging, police said.

The deceased have been identified as Gulshan Das, a senior lab assistant in the Department of Bio-Chemistry at IIT, his wife Sunita and his mother Kanta.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (South West) Devender Arya told Millennium Post that Sunita's family members had a complaint against Das for fighting with his wife. "Probe is going on in the case and so far investigation suggests that it is the case of suicide and no foul play is suspected," said DCP Southwest.

When asked about the possibility that whether a person hanged other two deceased first and then committed suicide, DCP South West said that further details will be revealed after autopsy.

According to police, they were alerted about the incident after they received a PCR call about domestic violence around 11.59 pm on Friday which was entrusted to sub-inspector Gangte for necessary action.

Upon reaching the flat which was situated on the third floor, D-3 in IIT Campus, it was found that door was bolted from inside. The police broke open the door to find the three bodies hanging from the roof. "The spot is a two-bedroom dwelling unit. Both the ladies were hanging in both the bedrooms by way of dupattas tied with ceiling fans. The male was hanging in the corridor with a dupatta tied to an overhead rod pipe," police said.

The investigating agency later said that the enquiries revealed that the PCR call was made by 68-year-old woman Krishna Devi from her home in Naraina. Her youngest of three daughters, identified as Sunita (32) was married off to Gulshan Das (35) on February 20/2019. "On Friday, the caller Krishna Devi was trying to call her daughter all day, but there was no response. So she called PCR," police said. Gulshan lived with his mother and wife.

DCP Arya said that no external injuries were found on any of the bodies and no suicide note has been found. "Inspection by the crime team has been done. Inquest proceedings are being carried out," police said.

The inquest proceeding has been initiated by Magistrate as mandated under the law since the marriage is under seven years. Postmortem will be conducted by a Board of Doctors, which has been constituted. "From the investigation so far nature seems to be suicidal Hanging. Further investigation is on," police said.

Sources said that the probe is also going on whether any such fight between the two took place leading them to end their lives.

"Relatives and neighbours of the deceased are being questioned to ascertain what led to frequent arguments between them. The death of Kanta is also being looked into," the police said.