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New Delhi: “We didn’t love you family members as much as we love Korean actors and K-pop groups…You never understood how much we loved them (Koreans). Have you seen the proof now? Do you now believe that Korean [culture] and K-pop meant the world to us?” These lines were part of the final note left behind by three sisters who jumped to their deaths from the ninth floor of a Ghaziabad building in the early hours of Wednesday.
Also found in the final note was the line: “Korean [pop culture] was our life. How could you dare to try and take it away from us?” Contents of the final note highlight the extent to which the girls—aged 12, 14 and 16—were obsessed with Korean pop culture.
A preliminary probe revealed that there were nine people living in the house—the father, his two wives (both siblings), a third woman who is also the wives’ sister, and five children.
In initial statements to the police, the family said none of the five children in the house were school-going. The 16-year-old girl who died Wednesday was the eldest. The 14-year-old and 12-year-old were her father’s daughters from the second wife.
The police have ruled out any foul play and the bodies of the three children have been sent for inquest to ascertain the exact cause of deaths. Ghaziabad Trans-Hindon DCP Nimish Patil confirmed to ThePrint that the sisters were “influenced” by Korean pop culture.
“The three sisters were strongly influenced by Korean culture, which included songs, movies, TV shows, as well as overall pop culture. When the family understood the magnitude of this influence under which they had started inhabiting Korean culture, such as their names, they barred them from using mobile phones around five days back,” he said.
Adding, “This was the only trigger point behind them committing the act, according to both the suicide note and statements of family members. There is no foul play as of now, and it appears to be a clear case of suicide.” But the girls’ obsession with Korean culture may just be the surface, as was evident by words scribbled on a wall in their room.
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‘We feel lonely’
On one wall of their room in flat number 907 at Bharat City residential complex in Ghaziabad were the words: “We are alone” and “we feel lonely”. Mentioned also in the final note, according to a source privy to it, was the line: “Have we come to the world only to be beaten up by you? No, we would rather have death than this treatment.”
Individuals known to the family said the state of the children’s emotional and mental well-being may have been lost on the family, with the father struggling with the stockbroking business he set up not too long ago.
UP Police sources said the eldest of the girls could not clear her Class 4 exams before the COVID-19 pandemic. “Neither did the children return to school [after the pandemic], nor did the father, by his own admission during initial rounds of recording statements, have the wherewithal to afford their education,” said a police officer who did not wish to be named.
Lack of formal education or any daily routine meant the children’s social interaction with others outside the family was minimal. They filled this gap with content they consumed on their parents’ mobile phones. Over the last few years, they became obsessed with Korean pop culture and began to immerse themselves in its various aspects, the police suspect.
In the purported final note recovered from their room, the sisters even left behind a list of TV shows and cartoons they watched, besides Korean dramas. It included games “The Baby In Yellow” and “Evil Nun: Scary Horror Game”, along with cartoons Doraemon, and Shin Chan. The list also made a mention of Chinese and Thai cinema, besides Hollywood songs.
Police sources added that the sisters wanted full adoption of Korean pop culture at home, including by their brother. But the parents did not approve of it.
The sisters, sources said, also documented their fear of being marriage off to Indian men, as well as their dislike of Bollywood movies and songs. “After denying them the phones, they were also threatened that they will be married in order to stop their obsession with Korean culture and shows around it,” another police officer said. This, the officer said, might have been the reason they also included the point about marriage in the final note.
A midnight commotion, followed by confusion
Around 2 am on 4 February, Kumar Onkareshwar heard screams, followed by a loud noise he initially presumed was a firecracker. “When the screaming grew louder within a minute, I became suspicious and looked from the balcony. I saw some people crying in pain on the ground floor and asking for help,” he told ThePrint, recalling the incident.
An advocate by profession, Kumar lives on the fourth floor of the B-1 tower. The girls and their family lived on the ninth floor of the same tower.
Kumar said the family was very reserved but it was “widely-accepted” that their economic condition was not good. The family moved to the society, which has around 15 towers, each with about 12 floors, about three years ago, according to Rahul Jha, the housing society’s joint secretary. “The family had little or no contact with any other member of the society,” said one resident, requesting anonymity.
The resident claimed the girls’ father was also not part of the society WhatsApp group.
Possibly the lone eyewitness of the incident, Arun Singh, who lives on the 10th floor in the adjacent tower, said the eldest of the three girls was the first one to fall from the window by her back. “This was followed by the middle sister falling from the window, and finally the youngest also fell from the same spot,” he told the media Wednesday.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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