JOIN US Anuradha Behal, who had been in a semi-conscious state and had fungal infection in her mouth, died around 8 am of cardiac arrest caused by multiple organ failure, the doctors attending her said. The condition of the younger sister Sonali Behal was also “serious” and she had been admitted to the ICU. The district administration has ordered an inquiry into the matter.
Anuradha, 41 and Sonali, 38, had voluntarily locked themselves up in their apartment for over six months and had, according to the doctors, slipped into deep depression. They had neither taken bath nor eaten for months.
The father of the two sisters O P Behal, a retired army officer, had died in an accident in 1992 and their mother had passed away a year later. Their younger brother Vipin Behal too moved out after his marriage as his wife could not adjust with the sisters leaving them all alone.
The sisters, who were said to be well educated, were pushed into loneliness further after the death of their pet dog a few months back.
Vipin, who reached Noida on Tuesday night, claimed that he did not have any dispute with the sisters. “I had no idea about their condition”, he said while speaking to reporters outside the hospital.
Vipin said that he had handed over the apartment to the sisters and had moved out but admitted that he did not have any contact with them for the past few years.