A day after 54-year-old Manju Devi and her two daughters, Ankita (30) and Anshika (26), were found dead at their Vasant Vihar residence, neighbours said the family hardly left their home following the death of Manju’s husband, Umesh Srivastava (55), due to Covid last year and were under financial strain.
The Delhi Police said it was a case of triple suicide as all the windows and doors were locked from inside, the glass panes were sealed with aluminium foil and tape, and an LPG cylinder was left open. Police also found four angithis in the room.
DCP (Southwest) Manoj C said Manju had been bed-ridden for years: “Prima facie… there is no foul play. We have recovered four suicide notes with multiple pages. The women haven’t blamed anyone. They were upset after Umesh’s death and were also in a financial crisis. We are investigating the matter as the notes will be examined and verified…,” he said.
Kamla, Manju’s former house help, said she was one of the first persons to see the bodies: “I worked for them for 8-9 years… they asked me to stop coming in 2020, saying they couldn’t afford to pay me. I kept in touch with them. I last spoke to Anshika didi on Friday. She wanted me to tell the grocery store owner that she’ll come and pay him the money they owed him. They called me on Saturday but I was sleeping. When I went to meet them in the evening, there was no response. I then went to work at other houses and passed by the grocery store later, when the owner told me Anshika hadn’t come. I got scared, I went to their house again and knocked several times… I alerted neighbours and we called police.”
“The pandemic ruined everything. They lost their father, and their mother was already bedridden. They were good people… they paid for my operation when I had a baby,” she said.
Neighbours said the family had been living in the locality for around 30 years.
“Manju’s mother owned the two houses on the ground floor and the family shifted in with her. After she died around 10 years ago, the women stopped interacting with others. Manjuji was bedridden and her elder daughter would also stay at home. Umesh was the only one supporting the family and would often talk to us. I remember I last spoke to Manju in 2018… We knew their financial condition and offered to help but they refused. Manju and her children were depressed after Umesh’s death. They had no jobs. They also asked their tenants to leave. We only saw Anshika leaving the house to buy groceries or feed dogs in the area,” said Pammi, their neighbour.
Meanwhile, Umesh’s family arrived from Kanpur to collect their bodies from Safdarjung hospital.
Anshul, Manju’s nephew, said, “We were shocked when police called my papa and informed him about the deaths. We knew they were depressed but didn’t know they would take this step. We wish we could have done something. I spoke to Anshika last month, she said everything was fine. My father would try and meet them, but they didn’t like meeting anyone. We last saw them after their father’s death. They were broken…”
S S Srivastava, Umesh’s uncle, said, “After Umesh’s death, I transferred some money to help them and offered more but the girls said no…”
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