Video: Delhi man who likely poisoned daughters seen entering home with sweets

A 50-year-old man who likely poisoned his daughters before taking his own life in their rented accomodation in Delhi was seen on CCTV entering the home with a packet containing a box of sweets.

In Short

• Man, his four specially-abled daughters found dead in their home on Friday
• Man seen carrying box of sweets in packet while going towards his home
• Victim may have mixed sweets in poison and offered it to daughters

After a 50-year-old man and his four specially abled daughters were found dead in southwest Delhi's Rangpuri, CCTV footage has emerged, showing the man believed to be carrying a box of sweets in a blue polythene packet going towards his rented home.

Visuals of the man, Hira Lal, entering the home with a packet of sweets have given rise to suspicion that the father may have mixed poison in the sweets and offered it to his daughters before they died. The CCTV footage is from September 24.

In another CCTV footage, Hira Lal is seen leaving the house with a box of sweets in his hand. The sweet box has been recovered from the house and sent for a forensic examination.

The victims were identified as Hira Lal, a carpenter, and his daughters Neetu (18), Nishi (15), Neeru (10) and Nidhi (8).

When the police recovered the bodies of the four daughters lying in the house, they all had kalawa (a sacred red and yellow thread) tied around their neck and wrist. The father later consumed poison and died.

Police also recovered Salphaz tablets, which treat anti-bacterial infections, from the house.

According to police, Hira Lal had been living alone with his daughters since his wife's death a year ago. All four daughters had disabilities: Neetu was visually impaired, Nishi had difficulty walking, and the nature of the other daughters' disabilities was still under investigation.

Police on Friday found the door of the victims' home locked from inside. They broke open the door with Delhi Fire Service's help and found the bodies of all five people inside.

While the bodies of the girls were in the bedroom, their father's body was in a different room. All five were foaming at the mouth.

Pouches of a poisonous substance were found near the bodies, and tetra packs of juice and a bottle of water were found in the room's dustbin.