Unable to trace a godman under whose influence 11 members of a Delhi family are suspected to have committed mass suicide, the police now think it was Lalit Bhatia, one of the family members that drove them to hang themselves, believing they will be saved by some force.
Police officers investigating the case said he was suffering from some kind of medical disorder. A senior police officer said they are working on the theory that Lalit was suffering from shared psychosis and are also taking help of experts to unravel the mystery.
Shared psychosis is a state wherein the hallucinations are transmitted from one individual to another.
"Shared psychosis is not very common. It is a belief system that is shared by the family members. The one person, who has a dominating personality, is the active member who makes the family follow his/her belief. In such cases, the family rarely interacts with any outsiders and generally stay indoors," Dr Sameer Malhotra, Director, Mental Health and Behavioural Sciences, Max Healthcare, said.
However, the door being ajar still remained a mystery for cops and does not rule out the possibility of an outsider's role.
Lalit, son of Narayan Devi, who was one of the eleven persons found dead in Burari area of Delhi, was hallucinating and carried out the mass suicide on the directions of his father, who passed away 10 years ago and Lalit dreamt of, police said.
Sources claimed that from standing on the stool to how they were to tie their hands and be blindfold, everything was mentioned in the two registers which were found inside the house. Lalit started writing in the register in 2015 after which some pages were found to be blank. He had written almost every day since December 2017.
Sources also said that Lalit would often speak in his father's tone.
As per the notes seized from the house, written by Lalit, which point to the suicide angle, the family would have attained salvation and would have been saved by Lalit's father.
"Antim samay mein..akhri ichha ki purti ke waqt, asmaan hilega...dharti kaapegi...uss waqt mantro ka jaap badha dena..main aakr, tumko aur auro ko utaar lunga (During the last moments, when you're making the last wish, the clouds will burst and the earth will move, start chanting loudly. I will come and save all of you)," read the note.
"As much as we can gather, it looks like the family members were in a very different mental state. The notes in the diary are written as if someone was given instructions. We believe none of the family members thought they would die as they believed they would be saved and will come back stronger. We will also consult psychologists and psychiatrists," said an officer privy to the investigation.
A night before the bodies were found hanging in their Burari home, the family had ordered 20 chapatis from a nearby shop but no curry alongside. The diary mentions that they would eat chapatis from their mother's hand before performing the ritual.
The delivery boy who delivered the food has also been questioned. He said that he did not find anything amiss when he gave them the food around 10:40 pm.
