(Image source from: Deccan Chronicle)

The police have filed a murder case after 11 people from a family were found blindfolded and hanged at their residence on Sunday under mysterious circumstances in north Delhi's Burari area.

According to police, the grounds found in the house suggest that the family have been practicing an occult ritual that may have gone wrong.

"The dead included four males and seven females. They belong to the same family and used to practice spirituality," said Vinit Kumar, ADCP (North).

The police said the menage owned a grocery store in the building where they stay. On Sunday morning, a neighbor, who used to purchase milk from their shop every day at 6 a.m., found it closed. When he went to probe, he found the bodies. He rushed out, elevated the dismay and informed the police.

Hand-written records

During an investigation of the house, certain hand-written notes were recovered pointing to the observance of some certain spiritual activities by the entire family, the police said.

"We have found hand-written notes detailing how hands and legs are to be tied and the manner in which the bodies of the 10 persons were found reflected what was written in the notes. They are exhaustive notes and we are studying them," Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Alok Kumar said.

Another officer said the notes were found in registers. "They talk about how a person can overcome fear by covering the eyes and the mouth, how a person can attain salvation, and how the human body is temporary but the soul continues to live on," he said.

The neighbors said that the Bhatias were a spiritual lot. They used to write a spiritual message on a board outside their house every day. "I used to visit their grocery shop every morning to buy milk and every day I read the message. They were regular in putting it up and it was a kind of a habit for everyone in the locality to read them," said Simran Kaur, a neighbor.

The family was well-educated and doing well in business. One of the deceased Priyanka Bhatia was employed with an MNC in Noida.

By Sowmya Sangam