11 members of a family found dead at a house in Burari in Delhi

NEW DELHI: Bodies of eleven members of a family were found under mysterious circumstances at a house in Burari in Delhi on Sunday. Those dead include seven women and four men. While ten bodies were found hanging from the roof in the courtyard of the house, the body of a 75-year-old woman was found on the floor. The bodies were blindfolded and gagged.

The dead include an elderly woman, her daughter, two sons and daughters in law; two kids of both the sons; and one child of the daughter. The dead have been identified as 75-year-old woman Narayana, 60-year-old Pratibha, 30-year-old Priyanka, 46-year-old Bhupi, 42-year-old Savita, 24-year-old Neetu, 18-year-old Meenu, 12-year-old Dhruv, 42-year-old Lalit, 38-year-old Tina, 12-year-old Shivam.

#Visuals from Delhi's Burari where bodies of 7 women and 4 men have been found at a house; Police present at the spot, investigation on. pic.twitter.com/CjuReQbaXT — ANI (@ANI) July 1, 2018

Police have begun the investigation into the case. "Bodies of seven women and four men, including three teenagers have been found. We did not find any suicide note. We have sent the bodies for post mortem to ascertain the cause of deaths,," Joint Commissioner of Police Rajesh Khurana, who was present at the site, said.

"Some of them were found hanging from an iron grill ceiling while others were lying on the floor blindfolded with their hands and legs tied," the Joint CP said. "Prima facie, we suspect they committed suicide but we are also investigating the case with other possible angles of homicide as well as we are not ruling out anything. We are also checking the CCTV footages," he added.

Of the victims, there were two brothers Bhupinder and Lalit Singh with the former running a grocery store and the latter was a carpenter. Both operated their businesses from their family home. "Their shop would open by 6 a.m. every morning but when it did not till 7.30 a.m. today, a neighbour went to buy milk. Upon checking, the neighbour found the main door of their residence open, prompting him to inform the police," Khurana said, adding a probe was underway.

"Both Lalit and Bhupinder were very friendly... They cannot commit suicide. I spoke to Bhupinder last night. He was very happy and there was no sign of any stress," a neighbour said.