A nine-page pocket diary recovered from the room of three sisters who died by suicide in Ghaziabad has offered a glimpse into their inner world, marked by an intense attachment to Korean culture and anguish over family strife, police said on Thursday.
Officials probing the triple suicide case in Bharat City Society in Ghaziabad said initial investigations have not revealed the use of any Korean task-based app by the girls.
They said that if the use of any such task-based Korean app is confirmed, they would write to the department concerned seeking a ban on such applications.
After the sisters -- Nishika (16), Prachi (14) and Pakhi (12) -- jumped to their deaths from the ninth floor of their high-rise building, their father, Chetan Kumar, claimed they had been playing a Korean game for close to three years and had not attended school since then.
After the post-mortem, their bodies were cremated at Delhi's Nigam Bodh Ghat on the bank of the Yamuna river on Wednesday evening. The last rituals were performed by their father, Additional Commissioner of Police, Shalimar Garden, Atul Kumar Singh told PTI.
"It is not known why the girls were cremated on Wednesday night. It may be due to their personal reasons," the ACP said, adding that the autopsy report confirmed that the girls died due to head injuries.
According to the police, the diary contains repeated references to the girls' love for Korea and what they described as attempts by the family to make them give it up. "We love Korean. Love, love, love," the diary states, calling itself a "true life story" and urging readers to believe what is written in it.
The note alleges that their parents were opposed to their interests and future choices, including marriage. "You tried to make us give up Korean. Korean was our life. You expected our marriage to an Indian, that can never happen," the diary states.
It also mentions physical punishment and ends with an apology addressed to their father. "Death is better for us than your beatings. That is why we are committing suicide... Sorry Papa."
The pocket diary has been taken into custody, and the matter is being investigated, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Trans-Hindon) Nimish Patil said. "We are examining the circumstances in which the diary was written and all related aspects," he said.
On the condition of anonymity, an office-bearer of the residents' association said the girls' father had been under severe financial stress after incurring heavy losses in the stock market.
He allegedly lost more than Rs 2 crore and, at one point, sold a mobile phone to pay the electricity bill, the person said, adding the financial crunch had led to frequent clashes at home.
DCP Patil said the police are also looking into the family's financial situation as part of the probe.
While admitting that they were treating the incident as a case of suicide, the police officer told PTI, "Our investigation primarily will focus on verifying if the girls were actually using a task-based app as claimed by their father and if that led them to end their lives."
The DCP said that as of now, police have no evidence to prove that the girls were indeed using any Korean task-based app.
"We have nothing to confirm if the girls were indeed using any app, and if that was a Korean app. So we will seek information from the parents if they had any knowledge of the task-based app the girls might have had," he said.
Residents of the residential complex are in shock, pondering how the girls' prolonged seclusion had gone unnoticed.
On Thursday, the neighbours were seen huddled in small groups within the premises on Thursday, discussing the tragedy and the effects of online addiction on impressionable young minds.
"It is very shocking. One can understand if someone takes such an extreme step owing to depression. But how could all three sisters do this together?" wondered Isha Tyagi, a resident.
The woman said she had never seen the girls going to school or playing in the society park with other children. Their isolation had gone unnoticed for years, she remarked.
Jyoti Kasana, a resident of the society, said, "Children at this age are vulnerable. Even sudden actions like taking away a phone or tablet can deeply affect their mental state."
Vice-president of the society, Ajay Kasana, told reporters that the children had not been attending school since the COVID-19 pandemic.
DCP Patil said the girls' education had been irregular and academic performance below par, though no conclusive evidence of the use of any task-based Korean app has emerged so far.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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