India house of horror: 10 dead family members were blindfolded, hanged from roof

Police in the Indian capital said Sunday they found 11 bodies in a village home in mysterious circumstances, 10 of them blindfolded and hanging from the roof.

The victims belonged to a family and most had lived in one home in Burari village in the northern part of the capital, said police officer Vineet Kumar.

The bodies were sent for an autopsy.

Police were investigating whether they died by suicide or were killed, he said. No suicide note has been found, Kumar said.

There were no bullet marks on the bodies of the victims, and there was no sign of forced entry into the house, Kumar said.

Ten bodies, blindfolded by cotton and pieces of cloth, were found hanging from an iron grill used as a ventilator in the home’s courtyard, while the body of a 70-year-old woman was lying on the floor of the house, said a police official who spoke on condition of anonymity, in line with department policy.

The family was living in the house for more than two decades, the Hindustan Times newspaper reported. It said the house belongs to a businessman who ran a plywood shop and dairy.

The newspaper said that at around 8am Sunday, a neighbour with whom the businessman used to go for morning walks went to see him and found the door of the house open and the 10 people, including the businessman, hanging. He raised an alarm and people called the police.

“It is a tragic incident. Police are investigating. ... Let’s wait for their investigation to be over,” said New Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who visited the scene.

In a video posted on Twitter by Kejriwal’s ruling party, the neighbours are heard telling Kejriwal that the family was busy with wedding preparations.

A neighbour of the family said they couldn’t have committed suicide, New Delhi Television reported. The neighbour said he spoke to one of the victims Saturday night and found no sign of any stress, the report said.

Indian TV channels broadcast interviews with neighbours who said the family did not have any discord among themselves.

Police official Rajesh Khurana said that all angles were being investigated.

“We can’t rule out anything,” he said.