Burari deaths: Delhi Police asks CBI to conduct psychological autopsy

New Delhi: The Delhi Police has written to the CBI for conducting a psychological autopsy of the 11 members of the Chundawat family, who were found dead at their residence in north Delhi's Burari, officials said today.

The police have approached the CBI's Central Forensic Science Laboratory to form a panel of psychologists to analyse the psyche of the deceased.

A psychological autopsy attempts to study a deceased person's mental state by analysing medical records, interviewing friends and family and conducting research into their state of mind prior to death, the police said.

Ten of the 11 members of the deceased family were found hanging from an iron-mesh in the ceiling of the house, while the body of 77-year-old Narayan Devi, the head of the family, was lying on the floor in another room of the house.

Her daughter Pratibha (57) and her two sons - Bhavnesh (50) and Lalit (45) - were among the deceased. Bhavnesh's wife Savita (48) and their three children - Maneka (23), Neetu (25), and Dhirendra (15) were also found dead.

Others who were found hanging were Lalit's wife Tina (42), their 15-year-old son Dushyant and Pratibha's daughter Priyanka, who was engaged last month and was to marry by the year-end.