New Delhi: Twenty-four hours after a 42-year-old woman and her two daughters, five and 18, were found dead in their one-bedroom flat in southwest Delhi, details of the case remained sketchy. The evidence so far suggests economic distress drove the woman to kill herself and her girls, with or without their consent.
The deaths were discovered after police entered the second-floor flat in Molarband near Badarpur on Wednesday following neighbours’ complaints of foul smell. All three were frothing at the mouth, indicating poisoning.
Police’s probe reveals a gritty survival story of the woman, Pooja, who had two successive live-in partners after a possibly failed marriage, one of whom she’s accused of killing with help of her son, 25, who is still in jail.
Woman lost job recently, daughter also stopped attending her classes
In 2022, Pooja was arrested on the charge of murdering her live-in partner. She came out of jail on bail last year and started living with another man.
Pooja’s two daughters, aged 5 and 18 years, also lived with her. A month ago, her second live-in partner also died, leaving the family in a crisis.
Police said Pooja had lost her job recently. While the younger daughter was going to school, the elder one had stopped attending classes in recent months. Rent for the flat hadn’t been paid for two months, police said, which again points to the financial distress that the family was facing.
Police said four people, including the woman and her son, were involved in the 2022 murder of 30-year-old Rishipal Sharma, Pooja’s alleged live-in partner. “She spent two years in jail. Her 25-year-old son is still in Dasna jail,” a police source added.
Little is known so far about Pooja’s husband. Police said they had spoken to Pooja’s mother and sister. Both said they had little connection with her and couldn’t provide any clues to the fate of her marriage.
Neighbours and residents of Molarband said that the family kept to themselves, rarely interacting with anyone.
Satish Pal, a neighbour, said he rarely saw the family interacting with anyone. The woman would come out of the house to go to a shop, and her daughters would venture out very rarely. “I also didn’t see any person coming to their house,” Pal said.
Pal added that the woman’s mother and sister had arrived at the house. Sanjay Jha, the owner of the building who lives elsewhere, said that he had rented the flat to Pooja in Sept last year. “The last time I spoke to her was about the pending rent, and she said it would be paid,” he said.
Another resident, Dev Raj Pal, said he had seen the family. They never seemed tense. “Everything appeared normal,” he said.
A shopkeeper, from whom Pooja would buy things on credit, told police that she would occasionally come to the shop for purchases.