Ghaziabad triple suicide: Police recover phone father sold fortnight before daughters' suicide

Ghaziabad (UP): Police here have recovered a mobile phone that the father of the three sisters, who died by suicide in Ghaziabad, sold to a shopkeeper a fortnight before the horrific incident and sent it for forensic examination, an official said on Wednesday.

Recovery of its data is essential to ascertain whether the suicides were linked to any task-based online Korean game, which many claimed the three girls were addicted to, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Trans Hindon) Nimish Patil told PTI.

After the sisters -- Nishika (16), Prachi (14) and Pakhi (12) -- jumped to their deaths from the ninth floor of their building on February 4, their father Chetan Kumar claimed they had been playing a Korean game for close to three years and had not attended school since then.

Even though initial investigations have not revealed the use of any Korean task-based app by the girls, a nine-page pocket diary recovered from the room of three sisters has offered a glimpse into their inner world, marked by an intense attachment to Korean culture and anguish over family strife.

Police recovered the mobile phone on Tuesday from the Shalimar Garden area in Delhi.

Kumar sold the device to a shopkeeper for Rs 15,000 a fortnight before the girls committed suicide, police said.

Investigations revealed that the girls felt depressed because their father had confiscated their phones, preventing them from playing online games and communicating with their Korean friends online.

According to the police, the diary of the sisters contains repeated references to their love for Korea and what they described as attempts by the family to make them give it up. "We love Korean. Love, love, love," the diary states, calling itself a "true life story" and urging readers to believe what is written in it.

The note alleges that their parents were opposed to their interests and future choices, including marriage. "You tried to make us give up Korean. Korean was our life. You expected our marriage to an Indian, that can never happen," the diary states.

It also mentions physical punishment and ends with an apology addressed to their father. "Death is better for us than your beatings. That is why we are committing suicide... Sorry Papa."