Ghaziabad triple suicide: What police say about phones, distress and sisters’ deaths

Police probing the deaths of three minor sisters in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad have said the girls were allegedly under distress after their father took away and sold their mobile phones, which investigators say had cut them off from online gaming and interactions linked to Korean culture.

The sisters, Nishika (16), Prachi (14) and Pakhi (12), died after jumping from the ninth floor of their residential tower in Bharat City Society under the Trans-Hindon police station jurisdiction earlier this week.

What police have found so far

According to the police, the father, Chetan Kumar, had confiscated the phones after observing what he claimed was an excessive attachment to Korean culture. Investigators said the move left the girls unable to play online games or communicate with friends they had made online, following which the phones were sold.


Police said that on the night of the incident, the sisters used their mother’s mobile phone but were unable to access the Korean application on that device. A forensic examination of the phone did not reveal any access to the app, officials said.

“The fingerprints, including the handwritten suicide note and the messages, have been sent to the forensic science laboratory, the report of which is still awaited,” DCP (Trans Hindon) Nimish Patil told PTI on Saturday.

Preliminary investigation findings, including a nine-page pocket diary recovered from the sisters’ room on Thursday, suggest a strong attachment to Korean culture along with signs of family discord, Patil said.

During interrogation, police found that Kumar currently has three wives — Sujata, Nishika’s mother, and Heena and Tina, the mothers of Prachi and Pakhi — all of whom are biological sisters. Police said the suicide note indicates that the girls were more emotionally attached to their father, as they addressed only him and did not mention their mothers.

Patil said one mobile phone was bought for Nishika around three months ago, while another was purchased for Prachi about 15 days before the incident.

Cyber crime teams are working to trace the buyers of the mobile phones through their IMEI numbers in an attempt to retrieve data related to the Korean applications, Patil told PTI, adding that the investigation is ongoing and awaits forensic science laboratory reports.

Police also flagged a 2015 case involving Kumar’s former live-in partner, who died under suspicious circumstances after falling from the roof of a flat in the Sahibabad police station area. The case was later closed and treated as a suicide, Patil said.

Officials have maintained that the deaths are being treated as a case of suicide, with investigators focusing on verifying the father’s claims regarding online gaming and cultural obsession, along with examining family circumstances.

The three sisters were cremated at Delhi’s Nigam Bodh Ghat on Wednesday evening.

(With inputs from PTI)