House of Secrets: The Burari Deaths

[Saj]

This is on Netflix at the moment.

An entire family of 11 found dead in a single night. It is a real-life incident that shook India in 2018, as the Chundawat family's mass suicide and the suburb of Burari found its place in the screaming headlines.

Anyone watched it?

Your thoughts on the series and what happened?

 

[Saj]

Some background:

On the morning of 1 July 2018 around 7:15 am, neighbour Gurcharan Singh, who used to go on morning walks with one of the deceased, went to the Chundawat residence after noticing Lalit Chundawat's absence for the morning walk, as well as the fact that the shops were still not opened (the shops usually opened at 6am). Gurcharan Singh found the door of the house open and the ten people, including Lalit Chundawat, hanging. He raised an alert by calling other neighbours, and police received the call around 7:30am.

Ten of the eleven people – two men, six women and two teens – were found hanging in the courtyard of the house. They were blindfolded and their mouths were taped. Some of the bodies had their hands and feet tied as well. Another woman, 80-year-old Narayani Devi was found dead in another room. It appeared that she had been strangled.

The members were found hanging from a mesh in their ceiling in the hallway, all close together. Their faces were wrapped almost entirely, ears plugged with cotton, mouths taped and hands tied behind the back. There were five stools, probably shared by the 10 members. Their faces were covered with cloth pieces cut from a single bed-sheet.

 

[Zaz]

A very good series It was shocking to see the story unravel On the face of it they were a normal extended family but the reality was so so different behind closed doors

I still cant believe what they determined is true It wouldnt be out of place in a horror film

 

[OldWarHorse]

Yup a good watch. Tbh not too shocked by the revelations as the reasons had come out in the media pretty early on at the time of the case itself iirc.

Nevertheless attaching human emotions to these stories made it quite compelling

 

[Saj]

A very good series It was shocking to see the story unravel On the face of it they were a normal extended family but the reality was so so different behind closed doors

I still cant believe what they determined is true It wouldnt be out of place in a horror film

I'm still not convinced by the theory that it was all down to the father's spirit ordering them around and telling them what they had to do.

 

[Zaz]

I'm still not convinced by the theory that it was all down to the father's spirit ordering them around and telling them what they had to do.

Well if it werent for the diaries im sure nobody would believe it to be true

What puzzles me is, no one else even had a hint of this going on for years, the neighbours, friends, relativez? How could it be such a tight secret that even the kids never mentioned it to anyone in passing? And didnt the neice get engaged a week earlier in a full desi style engagement?

Lots of things dont add up

 

[Major]

A very good series It was shocking to see the story unravel On the face of it they were a normal extended family but the reality was so so different behind closed doors

I still cant believe what they determined is true It wouldnt be out of place in a horror film

what was the reason, i cant get myself to watch this, wont be able to sleep than

 

[Rana]

Absolute madness! When they re-enact the father’s voice and instructions, it is so scary!

 

[Saj]

Well if it werent for the diaries im sure nobody would believe it to be true

What puzzles me is, no one else even had a hint of this going on for years, the neighbours, friends, relativez? How could it be such a tight secret that even the kids never mentioned it to anyone in passing? And didnt the neice get engaged a week earlier in a full desi style engagement?

Lots of things dont add up

True, but if it wasn't the father's voices and instructions, then what else made them kill themselves?

 

[jeetu]

Very sad incident. My take - psychopathy mixed with superstition to disastrous results. I don't live far from Burari , my car driver still lives there. My driver got duped of 5000 rs because people near him adviced him to follow a person who gives "prasaad" (holy food/gift). However soon after my driver got "prasaad" that person has outed as fraud which made big headlines on television.

 

[in_cutter]

Real life horror story.

The family were seemingly normal the day before and were even planning a wedding? Strange

 

[Saj]

Very sad incident. My take - psychopathy mixed with superstition to disastrous results.

They seemed an intelligent family. Surely all of them didn't have mental issues?

 

[jeetu]

They seemed an intelligent family. Surely all of them didn't have mental issues?

Well kind of. But more apt term would be "brainwashing" , which occured for over a decade. You can google "Jonestown" which caused murder-sucide of 909 people. Burari case has parallels with Jonestown but on a much smaller scale. Superstition can make people do odd things. You can see it even with cricketers who do it for luck. Thankfully they are pretty harmless. https://www.scoopwhoop.com/sports/superstitions-in-cricket/

In almost all desi joint families the younger brother is never in charge. In this case younger brother used deceased father for its own advantage to control the family. All the successes were attributed to the father , so the small family cult belief got more stronger with time. It was absolute control. The other elder ladies were always kept in kitchen. It kept a 33 year old from getting married for a long time. I think when marriage was about to happen the younger brother realized that con wouldn't last long. So he decided to use his father's so called instructions one last time to end it all.

 

[Saj]

Well kind of. But more apt term would be "brainwashing" , which occured for over a decade. You can google "Jonestown" which caused murder-sucide of 909 people. Burari case has parallels with Jonestown but on a much smaller scale. Superstition can make people do odd things. You can see it even with cricketers who do it for luck. Thankfully they are pretty harmless. https://www.scoopwhoop.com/sports/superstitions-in-cricket/

In almost all desi joint families the younger brother is never in charge. In this case younger brother used deceased father for its own advantage to control the family. All the successes were attributed to the father , so the small family cult belief got more stronger with time. It was absolute control. The other elder ladies were always kept in kitchen. It kept a 33 year old from getting married for a long time. I think when marriage was about to happen the younger brother realized that con wouldn't last long. So he decided to use his father's so called instructions one last time to end it all.

Even with the superstition angle, the family must have been seriously brainwashed to have gone ahead with it.

It seemed like the grandmother tried to not be a part of it?

 

[Afzal_K]

They seemed an intelligent family. Surely all of them didn't have mental issues?

I just watch the show, so basically a man with PTSD with changed voice was able to convince the whole family that he is fathers ghost and best to give up life?

 

[jeetu]

I just watch the show, so basically a man with PTSD with changed voice was able to convince the whole family that he is fathers ghost and best to give up life?

Not give up life. He convinced them that the father would return to save them.

 

[Saj]

Not give up life. He convinced them that the father would return to save them.

That was key.

They thought the father would save them before they died.

Sheer stupidity and puzzling.

 

[Bhaijaan]

@Saj

Disney Hotstar has released a 6 episode web series on this story and it’s quite riveting.

Crazy how a family of 11 fell victim to this madness. There were red flags right from the beginning but they all fell into the trap one mad man within the family.
People can be gullible in these things but gullible about their life is a another level of madness altogether

 

[Bhaijaan]

The series is called Akhri Sach