GHAZIABAD: Police investigating the deaths of three minor sisters in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad say the case has revealed a complex picture of family dynamics, isolation and emotional distress, as fresh details emerged on Saturday.According to police, the girls’ father, Chetan Kumar, had a live-in partner who died under suspicious circumstances in 2015 after falling from the roof of a flat at Rajendra Nagar Colony in the Sahibabad police station area. The case was later dismissed by police as a suicide, DCP (Trans Hindon) Nimish Patil told PTI.Read also: Ghaziabad sisters’ suicide gets murky: Father has 3 wives; police reveal what happened on night of tragedyEarlier this week, Kumar’s three daughters — Nishika (16), Prachi (14) and Pakhi (12) — jumped to their deaths from the ninth floor of their residential tower in Bharat City Society, which falls under the Trans-Hindon police station jurisdiction.Investigators say the sisters had been distressed after their father confiscated their mobile phones, citing concerns over their growing attachment to Korean culture. Police said the move prevented the girls from playing online games and communicating with friends they had made online.The phones were later sold, police said. On the night of the incident, the sisters allegedly took their mother’s phone in an attempt to access the Korean app they had been using earlier, but were unable to do so. Forensic teams seized the device but found no evidence of the app being accessed.Fingerprints, the handwritten suicide note and digital messages recovered from the scene have been sent to the forensic science laboratory, and the report is awaited, DCP Patil said.During interrogation, police confirmed that Kumar currently has three wives — Sujata, Heena and Tina — all of whom are biological sisters. Sujata is Nishika’s mother, while Heena is the mother of Prachi and Pakhi.Police said the girls appeared to be more emotionally attached to their father than to their mothers. This, they said, was reflected in the suicide note, which was addressed only to the father.Cybercrime teams are attempting to trace the buyers of the sold mobile phones through their IMEI numbers in an effort to recover data linked to the Korean apps, Patil added. Police said the investigation is continuing from multiple angles, including verifying the father’s claims about the girls’ online activity and examining family circumstances.Preliminary findings include a nine-page pocket diary recovered from the sisters’ room on Thursday. Police said it points to an intense attachment to Korean culture and possible family discord. Officials also said one mobile phone had been purchased for Nishika around three months ago, while another was bought for Prachi approximately 15 days before the incident.The three sisters were cremated at Delhi’s Nigam Bodh Ghat on Wednesday evening.A one-page handwritten note addressed to their father was also recovered. The note contained an apology — “Sorry Papa” — and urged him to read their diary, with the words “READ NOW” written in capital letters.Police and family members say the diary offers insight into the girls’ state of mind. According to officers familiar with the investigation, the writings reveal a deep attachment to Korean popular culture, including K-pop music, television dramas and what is known as BL (boy love) content.The girls wrote that Korea had become central to their lives and expressed anger towards their father for opposing their interests. “How did you even dare to take this from us?” reads one line in the diary.Police sources say this may refer to an incident around 15 days earlier, when Kumar allegedly took away the elder daughter’s mobile phone and sold it. Police also said this could be a reference to their father Chetan Kumar, a stock trader allegedly deep in debt, taking away the phone.Kumar has not denied the girls’ interest in Korean culture. “They listened to Korean music, watched Korean films, dramas, web series and cartoons. They also wanted to go to Korea,” he said. “All three wanted us to accept Korean culture, but when we refused, their behaviour changed. They went into a shell and lived in their own world.”Investigators say the girls had not attended school since the Covid-19 pandemic and were not being homeschooled. They were also reported to have had little interaction with other children in their housing society.Writings found on the wall of their room suggest a sense of loneliness. Phrases such as “I am very, very alone”, “My life is very very alone” and “Make me a heart of broken” were scribbled on the wall.According to police, the sisters spent nearly all their time together and appeared to have withdrawn from social life. In their diary, they referred to each other using names taken from television shows — Maria, Aliza and Cindy — and appeared to view themselves as living in a separate world.The diary lists 19 activities the girls said their parents disapproved of, including Korean dramas and music, as well as Chinese, Japanese, Thai, American and British entertainment. They also mentioned cartoons such as Shin-chan and Doraemon, along with several mobile games.“You don’t know how much we loved Korea,” the girls wrote. “The way we loved Korean actors and K-pop groups, we didn’t even love family members that much.”The diary also refers to tensions involving a younger sibling, a four-year-old girl referred to as “Devu”. The sisters wrote that they wanted to introduce her to their interests, but their parents objected and instead encouraged her to watch Bollywood films.“You made her Bollywood, which we hated more than life itself,” the diary reads.There are also references to physical punishment, though it is unclear whom the girls were referring to. “Did we live in this world to get beaten by you?” one line reads. “Death would be better for us than beatings.”Another passage mentions marriage, without elaboration. “The mention of marriage caused tension in our hearts,” the diary says.(With agency inputs)
