NEW DELHI:An eerie urban legend was bound to rise around the house given that it was the site of the bizarre drama of the entire Bhatia-Chundawat family killing themselves. For days in July, there was intense speculation whether the 11 pipes protruding from its walls had any significance with the 11 suicides. The mystery lingers on — but now in whispered tales about a ghostly presence that deters anyone in Burari’s Sant Nagar locality from venturing close to the two-storey structure after dark.The more inquisitive of the city’s people often go there to peep into the house, perhaps hoping to get the thrill of an otherworldly experience. But by and large, by late evening, people desert the narrow lane on which the house stands and children skip away to other play spaces. Karampal, who lives next door, revealed that no locals now gather after sunset at the shops run by the family. “Local youths used to sit on the steps of the shops then. No longer,” said Karampal. “After dark, we even keep away from our rooms that open onto the balcony of the dreaded house.”Perhaps too much is being invested in the story about the haunted house. Just a month after the mass suicides, Dinesh Chundawat, the surviving brother who lives in Chittorgarh in Rajasthan, was handed over the key to the sealed building by the court, and he and his family stayed there for a month without ill effect. He also removed the 11 mysterious pipes attributed with occult symbolism at the time of the discovery of the bodies. “Dinesh visits the house occasionally to complete the renovation work started by his brother Lalit,” said Amarjeet Singh, who owns a shop opposite the house.Dinesh conducted a havan and locked the gates, while the two shops on the ground floor are being emptied of their content by the survivors. When TOI visited Burari, some labourers loitered around the shops. They were once employed by Lalit at his plywood godown. “We come here in the daytime to ferry away what is left in the shops, but we have not dared to linger on till night,” said one, who was loading stuff on a tempo.Many locals expressed their fears to TOI that the land mafia might be behind the rumours, in the hope of chasing away potential buyers and leaving the house under their control. Pawan Kumar, who is engaged in the realty business, however, revealed that even when alive Dinesh had not been able to sell the house. “It will remain unsold for the time being,” smiled Kumar. “For now it is a local attraction. People visiting the area’s residents go up to the terraces to have a look at the infamous house.”TP Sharma admitted that the stories hadn’t done the Sant Nagar community any good. “We have been asking the media and the locals to stop spreading fake news because they are creating a wrong impression about this place,” Sharma muttered. “It is becoming difficult to even rent out our houses after news channels began carrying stories about the rumoured ghosts and spirits in the area.”In the meanwhile, almost four months after the death of seven women and four men in the house, police are preparing the final report on why Lalit Chundawat had his septuagenarian mother smothered and influenced nine others, including two teenaged boys, into killing themselves.