MP: Family Of 5 Found Hanging In Suspected Burari Incident Repeat

The bodies of a family were found hanging in their house in a Madhya Pradesh village in the Alirajpur district. A man, his wife, and three children were identified on Monday. The deceased family, belonging to the Ravdi village, is a suspected case of mass suicide, though investigations are still ongoing. The crime scene also had striking similarities to the 2018 Delhi Burari alleged mass-suicide case.

Details of the case

A police official told NDTV, ''The information about the death of five people at Ravdi village in Sodwa tehsil was received at 9.20 a.m. on Monday.''

The people were identified as a farmer and mason Rakesh Dodwa (age 27), his wife Lalita Dodwa (25), their sons Prakash (7) and Akshay (5), and their daughter Laxmi (9). Everyone except the daughter was found hanging from the ceiling, whereas the daughter was reportedly found lying on the floor.

Though it seems like a mass suicide case at first glance, no suicide note was found on the scene. A team led by the Sub Divisional Officer of Police (SDOP) of Alirajpur was appointed to lead the investigation of the case, in addition to a forensic team from Indore and a dog squad.

The post-mortem reports are being scrutinized by local authorities for further leads and explanations on the matter.

Similar incidents

The incident bore a disturbing resemblance to the 2018 Burari deaths in Delhi, where a family of eleven was found hanging in their house. In this case, too, ten members were found hanging from the ceiling in their courtyard whereas an elderly woman was found on the floor of another room. However, handwritten notes were found that led police to believe that shared delusions led the family to commit mass suicide to achieve supposed salvation.

Similar incidents have been reported in recent times too. A case was reported in Gujarat last year where a family of seven was found dead in their house, with a suicide note found reflecting financial troubles.

The mass suicide of a family of nine in the Maharashtra village of Mhaisal in 2022 also represented a similar situation. These incidents reflect the grim state of the rural population of India and the lack of support and education that leads to families taking such drastic measures.