Eleven members of a family were found dead in India’s capital on Sunday, most of them hanging from the ceiling of their home, blindfolded, gagged and hands tied behind the back, in a case which police said they could not immediately explain.
The home was above a grocery store owned by the family in the Burari district in a northern part of Delhi, near where three people were killed and several injured in a shootout between two gangs just two weeks ago. But police said there was no apparent link between the two crimes.
Sunday’s victims included four men and seven women, including teenagers and a 75-year-old woman who was found dead on the floor. The others were hanging from a railing attached to the ceiling, media reports said.
A neighbor found the victims early on Sunday, police said.
“I haven’t seen such a crime before,” said Vineet Kumar, additional deputy commissioner of police in north Delhi.
“We are investigating all possible angles including suicide, foul play. We can say something about the cause of death only after the postmortem reports come.”
All the family members had died and there were no witnesses. Neighbors had not heard anything untoward, police said.
According to media reports, the family migrated to the capital from the northwestern state of Rajasthan about two decades ago and police were trying to get in touch with relatives there.
On June 18, members of rival gangs opened fire on each other in the main Burari market, killing three people and wounding five. The two gangs were headed by men whose enmity goes back to 2013.
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