GHAZIABAD: Police have recovered a mobile phone belonging to one of the three sisters who allegedly died by suicide after jumping from their ninth-floor home in Bharat City, marking the first potential digital lead in a case that has so far relied largely on the family’s account.The handset had been sold by their father around 15 days before the girls’ deaths and was seized from an electronics shop in Shalimar Garden. Police said the phone has been sent for forensic examination to retrieve deleted data, including apps, browsing history and social media activity.DCP (trans-Hindon) Nimish Patil said the father, Chetan Kumar, had bought two smartphones about six months ago for the eldest daughter and her 14-year-old half-sister, hoping they would gain popularity as YouTubers. “One phone was sold about three months ago, and the second just 15 days before the incident,” Patil said.The recovered phone was sold for Rs 15,000 and was still with the shop owner when police reached the store on Monday. “All crucial data appears to have been deleted before the phone was sold. We have sent it to a forensic lab to recover deleted content, including social media accounts and apps,” Patil said, adding that efforts were also underway to trace the second handset through surveillance.Investigators believe the phones could reveal what kind of online content the sisters were consuming, whether they were in touch with anyone outside the family, and how deeply they were immersed in social media. Police have said understanding the girls’ digital footprint is critical to reconstructing the circumstances leading up to their deaths.The sisters — aged 16, 14 and 12 — were found lying next to each other on the society premises on February 4, directly below their ninth-floor apartment window. They were taken to hospital and declared dead on arrival.Police said the girls had largely lived in isolation since the Covid pandemic, having stopped attending school and remaining cut off from peers. They reportedly spent most of their time consuming online content centred on Korean culture and had even launched a YouTube channel focused on K-dramas and animated characters, which garnered over 2,000 followers before being deleted about 10 days before their deaths. Officers said the channel was removed after their father objected to what he viewed as their growing fixation with Korean culture.Kumar allegedly told investigators that his daughters were “living in their own world” and frequently spoke about going to Korea after watching reels and other social media content.About three weeks before their deaths, the girls were taken to a private tutor, where they introduced themselves using Korean names — Maria, Aliza and Cindy — and claimed they had been adopted from Korea and China. The tutor told police the sisters were extremely weak in studies, struggling with basic calculations and even recognising numbers or copying letters from textbooks.“They had not been going to school since Covid and didn’t have books. When I tried basic additions and multiplications, they couldn’t recognise numbers,” the tutor said, adding that home assignments were left incomplete and the girls showed little academic focus.When questioned about their lack of preparation, the tutor said the girls repeated that they had been adopted from China and Korea — a claim their father later linked to their obsession with Korean culture. Disturbed by their condition and progress, the tutor said she stopped teaching them and returned the fees around 20 days before the incident.Police said the tutor’s account has been added to the case file as they await forensic inputs from the seized mobile phone.
