Murder Mystery- THE BURARI DEATHS

Everyone must have heard about the case of The Burari Deaths, the most intriguing case which perplexed everyone for a long time. In this case study, we will go deep dive into the roots. This was a shocking incident back in 2018 where 11 members of a family in Burari, Delhi had killed themselves; were 10 people found hanged and the oldest grandmother was strangled. Many call it to be a case of mass ritual suicide. The case report is written and shown much better on a Netflix docuseries titled, ‘House of Secrets: The Burari Deaths’ created by Leena Yadav and Anubhav Chopra.

So initially what happened was that on a one fine day, on July 1, 2018, at around 7:15 am, Gurcharan Singh, a neighbor who regularly went for morning walks with one of the deceased, went to the Chundawat home after discovering Lalit Chundawat's absence from the walk. He discovered the 10 persons hanging and the front entrance to the house open. He alerted the authorities by calling his neighbors, and they responded to the call at 7:30 am. They were horrified to see nine family members arranged in a circle and hanging from an iron grill on the roof's ceiling. Their mother or grandmother was resting on the floor in the other room, next to her bed, and the tenth member, a woman, was hanging directly across from them. The family members hanged themselves while their wrists and feet were shackled, their hands and faces were almost completely covered in tape, their ears were stuffed with cotton, and their mouths were taped. The only member of the family still alive was the family dog, who was tethered to the balcony, had a high temperature, and was reportedly howling nonstop.

First, we have to go through the family tree so that there is no confusion in future reading. 11 members of the Chundawat family are listed below: 

1. Narayani Devi (80), mother of Bhuvnesh, Lalit and Pratibha
2. Pratibha Bhatia (57), the widowed daughter of Narayani Devi
3. Bhuvnesh (50), elder son of Narayani Devi
4. Savita (48), elder daughter-in-law, wife of Bhuvnesh
5. Lalit (45), younger son of Narayani Devi 
6. Tina (42), younger daughter-in-law, wife of Lalit
7. Priyanka (33), daughter of Pratibha
8. Nitu (25), elder daughter of Bhuvnesh
9. Monu (23), younger daughter of Bhuvnesh
10. Dhruv (15), son of Bhuvnesh
11. Shivam (15), son of Lalit

There were three generations residing. They were all well-educated and sociable individuals. They have been involved in all societal programs and all were interactive with everyone, it was not like they were in a shell from an outside perspective but when we go through it, we will figure out how much they were in a shell.

The investigation by Delhi police and the Crime Branch pointed out some key events from the crime scene and they are listed below:

• As there was obvious evidence of effort in his fingers, the older son, Bhuvnesh, attempted to release his hands, which were bound. Telephone cables were cruelly used to bind the children of the house by both their hands and their feet. None of them showed any symptoms of resistance. Their ears were packed with cotton, and their eyes and lips were both tapped.

• Narayani Devi, the family's elder, was discovered dead in the other room next to her bed with a partially turned body. She had some marks on the side of her neck from the belt that was around her neck. The family members all had scarves around their necks that they could hang themselves with.

• There was also proof of a ceremony that had been done the previous evening. There was still some of the remaining. It was evident from the ashes scattered around the pyre that the same one had been used the day before the event.

• Lalit's wife Tina and her son Shivam were spotted buying four chairs on June 28, 2018, according to the CCTV footage. Additionally, Neetu and Tina were observed carrying some recently purchased tools on June 30, 2018, at 9:40 p.m. Lalit's son Shivam opened their plywood shop at 10:29 p.m. while lugging a small bundle of wires upstairs.

• A register was discovered at the temple in the house. 11 diaries were found after a thorough investigation; the first entry was from 2007 and the final one was from the night before the incident in 2018.

The case was unwrapped when they get to know about the 11 diaries and the content and context of their living it wasn’t just evidence but the whole mystery which is connected with their entire life and for very long years. So, the diary unfolded some of everyone’s doubts and gave a clear-cut reason for this case. Now we can go through those points;

• The criminal division had stated that the diaries' language was conversational, authoritative, and instructive. The entire set of directions for the family to follow was written on the diary's final page, and it was these instructions that ultimately led to the tragic occurrence that eventually happened.

• The most recent item in the diary from June 24, 2018, described a ritual called the "Banyan Tree Ritual" that would last for seven days in addition to the puja known as Badh Puja. The diary included information about the incident's timing (supposedly at 1 am in the morning).

• The journals detailed every small and important detail that the family followed to live their life. Additionally, there were hints in the journals that the family engaged in mystical and witchcraft activities. The 11 members appeared to be under the direction of a mysterious force or third party.

• The family was clearly headed by Bhopal Singh (Narayani Devi's husband, who passed away in 2007), according to the journals, which were allegedly dictated to Lalit by his deceased father's ghost. Handwriting analysis of the diaries showed that they were written by Lalit. The incident is thought to have been planned by Lalit. It was also revealed that Lalit frequently watched YouTube paranormal programs and conducted an online study on death and the afterlife. In an attempt to persuade the family to follow him, Lalit said to the family that the soul of Narayani Devi's husband had taken up residence in his body.

Now we know who we should be going after, it is Lalit who is the younger son of Narayani Devi. What’s his story? How he became what he was at the time of saying e is possessed by his father?

In 1988, Lalit got into a bike accident where he had severe head injuries. In 2004, shortly after moving to Delhi, Lalit was attacked. At the time, he was working in a plywood company where he was confined inside and set ablaze. Lalit's voice had been taken away as a result of this incident. According to a vascular surgeon, voice loss is extremely unlikely to occur unless there is physical harm, trauma, or disease in the larynx.

A clinical psychologist made the comment that no one in the family had attempted to provide Lalit with treatment to aid in his recovery from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The family disregarded the recommendation for a psychiatrist check-up made by the doctor who treated Lalit despite the fact that it took his problems into consideration.

Lalit's behaviour pattern apparently began to change a few days prior to Priyanka's engagement ceremony, according to neighbours. He may have been reminded that no one should be leaving the house and moving away by his religious beliefs.

According to psychology, if a trauma is not treated in any people who have experienced it, a certain degree of psychosis—the mind's inability to make reasonable decisions sets in. Hearing voices is a direct consequence of psychosis. Lalit had regained his voice a year after the passing of his father.

Role of Psychology: Following an investigation and psychiatric autopsy, it was determined that Lalit had psychosis and was gradually passing it along to his family members, resulting in a case of "shared psychosis." A rare condition known as shared psychosis is characterized by the hallucination being shared by two or more people in a close connection. A nonpsychotic person or more (induced, secondary) is influenced by the inducer (primary), who has a psychotic condition with delusions, based on a delusional belief. Because of this, the family members had begun to believe Lalit without question. It was found that the family had not intended to kill themselves; rather, the situation drove them to do so.

Conclusion: The crime branch had concluded the three-year-old investigation stating that the Burari death case was neither a murder nor a suicide as there was no foul play involved, it was specifically an accidental death that had taken place. The eldest brother had donated the eyes of the family members prior to cremating them.

From this case, we can understand how ignorant we are regarding our mental health. We still have the stigma about mental illnesses and other mental disorders. If we continue to avoid those symptoms, we may witness these types of incidents in the future.