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The shocking incident of what appears to be a mass suicide by 11 members of a family in Delhi's Burari remains a deep mystery for the police despite enough proof that the family committed the act as an occult ritual to attain "mass salvation".Bodies of eleven members of the Bhatia family were found at a house in Delhi's Burari area early on Sunday morning. Ten bodies were found hanging and blindfolded, while another, the eldest family member Narayani Bhatia, 77, was found strangled in a separate room. The rest, including two 15-year-old boys, allegedly used chunnis (scarves) with religious motifs and cables to hang themselves. They were gagged and blindfolded, with hands tied. Cotton buds were found stuffed in their ears. The only one found alive in the house was the family dog, Jacky, who had been sent to the terrace.Neighbours said they didn’t hear the dog bark.The post-mortem examination of six of the 11 dead revealed no signs of struggle, a senior police officer has disclosed.The post-mortem included that of two children, and police have found no indication of strangulation or scuffle.Police suspect that the deaths were part of a suicide pact, carried out in accordance with a religious practice, as handwritten notes found on the spot indicated.The Bhatia family ran a grocery shop and plywood business out of their double-storey home in Sant Nagar, in north Delhi's Burari's area. "Their shop would open by 6 am every morning but when it did not till 7.30 am today, a neighbour went to check and later informed the police after finding most of them hanging. The Bhatias lived on the first floor of house number 137/5/2 in lane number 2 of Sant Nagar. Narayani had two sons, Bhavnesh (50) and Lalit (45), who lived in the house with their respective wives, Savita (48) and Teena (42). Bhavnesh had three children Nitu (25), Monu (23) and Dhruv (15), while Lalit had a 15-year-old son, Shivam. Narayani’s elder daughter, Pratibha (57) also lived in the house with her daughter, Priyanka (33) after her husband died a few years ago. All of them were found dead.Though no suicide note has been recovered yet, prima facie, the police suspects the Bhatia family committed suicide. But the police is also investigating the case with other possible angles of homicide. It is also checking the CCTV footage and not ruling out anything. This means it could also be a case of murders.A diary found in the house had detailed instructions for "mass salvation", including how hangings should be conducted. The Bhatias seemed to have followed the instructions, some of which may have been written months ago. They conducted a "havan" hours before the suicides.Pattiyan achchhe se baandhni hai.. Shunya ke alaawa kuch nahi dikhna chahiye.. Rassi ke saath sooti chunniyan ya sari ka prayog karna hai.. (Everyone should be blindfolded properly, nothing but zenith should be visible to the eyes. A chunni or a sari should be used along with a rope ),” reads one of the last pages of the diary recovered from the house.The Bhatia family had been writing down the steps to attain “mass salvation”, which will now serve as clues for police to unravel the mystery.Some of the notes stated that "one will not die" but attain something "great", the officer said.The notes even specify the favourable day and time on which these "Kriyas" should be performed. “Saat din Bad pooja lagataar karni hai.. thoda lagan aur shraddha se.. Koi ghar me aa jaaye to agle din.. Guruvaar ya Ravivaar ko chunein... (Worship the Banyan tree for seven days at a stretch with devotion. If somebody comes home then do it the next day. Choose Thursday or Sunday as the day of the act). The notes even specify the favourable time as midnight to 1 am.Sources told TOI that the family members had been writing this diary in Hindi for a few months. The last entry in the diary is around two days old. Police said the condition in which the bodies were found had stark similarities with what was written in the diary. The bodies were hanging in batches of three, while one was hanging from the window grille. The “ bebbe” (Narayani) was lying in a separate room. The note read: “ Bebbe khadi nahi ho sakti to alag kamre me late sakti hain (The elderly women can’t stand so she can lie down in another room.)”On another page, a family member had written, “ Sabki soch ek jaisi honi chahiye.. Pehle se jyada dhridhta se.. Ye karte hi tumhare aage ke kaam dhridhta se shuru honge (Everyone should think in one direction with more determination than last time. As this is done, the way forward will be paved).”The note also directs the family to dim the lights ( madhdham roshni ka prayog) in the house during the commission of the act. The lines about more devotion and determination from the last time suggest that the family may have tried to commit mass suicide in the past. Relatives are being questioned in this regard.“ Haathon ki pattiyan bach jaaye to usey aankhon pe double kar lena.. Muh ki patti ko bhi rumaal se double kar lena.. Jitni dhridhta aur shraddha dikhaoge utna hi uchit phal milega. (The extra wrap around the hands should be used to blindfold the eyes. The mouth should be doubly wrapped with a handkerchief. The amount of devotion will determine the outcome),” reads another page.The diary will be sent for analysis by handwriting experts.Despite entries in the diary indicating a suicide for “mass salvation”, cops are still facing many unanswered questions into the deaths of 11 members of Narayani Devi’s family.1. The biggest question is how no relative got a hint of such spiritual practices going on in the house. Even Devi’s daughter, Sujata Nagpal, who lives in Panipat, was clueless about the family’s drive to attain salvation. Her brother, Lalit, had last called her at 11 pm on Saturday, but told her nothing about the suicide pact.2. Police are quizzing friends and relatives to find out if any family member had mentioned such things to them. The handwritten notes suggest that the family may have attempted mass suicide earlier, but it remains unanswered how nobody shared this incident to anyone outside.3. Another unsolved mystery is how the teenaged children were convinced by the family to take their own lives. Investigating officers said that there were no signs of struggle and it’s hard to believe that 11 people readily agreed to take their lives and even allowed their family to die in front of them.The autopsy report will play a crucial role in the investigation as police haven’t ruled out the possibility of the use of poison that may have been taken by the victims4. With a murder case being registered over the suspicion of Narayani Devi’s death due to strangulation, it is yet to be found who among the family members killed her before taking his or her life.5. As the notes in the diary suggest, if the family members were seeking mass salvation, why did they fix Priyanka’s wedding and even celebrated her engagement?