GHAZIABAD: Police probing the death by suicide of three sisters in Ghaziabad have obtained the IMEI numbers of the phones they were using and later sold, and will now trace the devices to retrieve data and verify if the girls were playing any task-based online game, an officer said on Friday.
The girls' father and his wife were questioned for nearly two hours on Thursday as police recreated the sequence of events as part of the investigation, they said.
Nishika (16), Prachi (14) and Pakhi (12) jumped to their deaths from the ninth floor of their residential tower in Bharat City Society under the Trans-Hindon police jurisdiction earlier this week.
Police have maintained that the case is being treated as a suicide, and the probe is focused on verifying the father's claims regarding alleged online gaming obsession and examining all related aspects, including family circumstances.
Preliminary findings, which include a nine-page pocket diary recovered from the room of the sisters on Thursday, point to intense attachment to Korean culture and alleged family discord.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Trans-Hindon) Nimish Patil said one mobile phone was purchased by the girls' father, Chetan Kumar, for Nishika about three months ago, and another for Prachi around 15 days ago.
"After noticing their growing obsession with Korean culture, the father confiscated both phones and sold them. We have obtained the IMEI numbers of the devices.
"Our first step will be to trace the buyers and recover the phones, after which we will retrieve data from them to verify what kind of online games or applications were being used," the DCP told PTI.
Police have so far not found any evidence confirming the use of a Korean task-based application.
Officials said they are also examining the family's financial background, including alleged property dealings and debts, to understand the broader circumstances leading up to the incident.
When contacted by PTI on Friday morning, Station House Officer of Teela Mod police station, Ravi Baliyan, said the family would be contacted again if required and that the questioning was not over.
In his interaction with the media at his residence, Kumar said his daughters were deeply influenced by Korean culture and used to play task-based online games late into the night, sometimes from midnight till 5 am. He claimed the girls had changed their names to Korean ones and were in contact with Korean friends online.
He admitted that initially, he had taken their activities lightly. Kumar also urged the government, through the media, to ban such online gaming applications to protect the younger generation and Indian culture.
According to the post-mortem report, the girls suffered severe head injuries. Their ribs were fractured and internal organs damaged due to the fall, police sources said.
Investigators said Kumar had moved to Ghaziabad in 2010 after his marriage, leaving behind his ancestral village of Khajuri Khas in Delhi, where an undivided ancestral property is located.
The three sisters were cremated at Delhi's Nigam Bodh Ghat on Wednesday evening.