‘Will you stop us from going to Korea?’: Ghaziabad sisters in grim suicide note

THe deuce-ace sisters in Ghaziabad who died by felo-de-se left wing slow a inexorable note inside a diary, which has brought to light their obsession with the Korean culture and addiction to an online task-based game even though investigations are on to understand the context that led the trio take the extreme step.Also read: Shashi Tharoor’s son among hundreds laid off by Washington Post, his 12-year stint ends: ‘Heartbroken’The three girls – aged 16, 14 and 11 – died after falling from the window of their flat located on the ninth floor of a building in Ghaziabad at 2am on Wednesday. Apart from addiction to Korean culture, investigation so far has pointed towards social isolation mainly on account of addiction to online world, skewed family dynamics and financial strain that the family had been going through for quite some time.Obsession with Korean cultureThe girls were deeply involved with Korean culture, including K-dramas and K-pop, so much so that they took on monikers of Aliza, Cindy, and Maria, which investigators said they used consistently within their self-contained world, HT reported.Also read: Instagram down: Thousands of users complain about issues with Meta platform; how to fix 'sorry something went wrong'Their fixation also impacted their personal relations within the family as was understood from an eight-page note recovered from the apartment. It revealed the girls did not “like” their half-brother or other family members because they felt no one around them understood their deep fascination with Korean culture.'Upset that they couldn't go and live there'Police told HT that the girls had completely internalised this alternate identity. “In the note, they repeatedly mention how no one – not their brother, not other family members – understood their love for Korea," an officer said, adding that the note explicitly stated that the girls did not like their half-brother, referring to him only as “bhai”. The chilling note that the girls left behind also had a line that read, “Will you stop us from going to Korea?”Also read: 'One jumped, others fell trying to save': Witness recalls Ghaziabad sisters' suicide“They had a single phone which they used to watch shows. They also had a TV which they used to watch K-drama and movies. They wrote in the note that they liked Korea, China, Japan and Thailand, and that they liked people from those places. They were upset that they could not go and live there.” No school, social lifePolice said the sisters had stopped going to school around 2020. The eldest had studied till Class 7, the middle one till Class 5, and the youngest till Class 3. They had little interaction with others, including their brother and did not attend school. They rarely stepped out, and had no known friends in the neighbourhood. “They did not have a social life at all,” an officer said.Also read: What is the 'Korean love game’ linked to the suicide of three girls in GhaziabadTension as father took away their phoneIn days leading up to the chilling suicide, tensions had escalated in the house as the father sold the phone that the girls used to watch K-dramas. Police said the father sold the phone for ₹3,500 probably due to financial stress. He also forced them to delete a social media account with around 2,000 followers about 10 days before the incident. “This angered them deeply,” an officer said. “Their online world was everything to them.”Skewed family dynamicsWhile earlier reports said the father was married twice, his third marriage is also being investigated. The eldest girl, 16, and a 13-year-old son are children from his first marriage. The girls aged 14 and 11 were born to his second wife, who is also the younger sister of his first wife, police told HT. A four-year-old girl also lives in the house. Investigators aware of the case details said she is allegedly the child of a third wife, who is another sister of the first two women. Officers said this aspect of the case is still being verified.“The dynamics in the household were complex. All the family members lived together in a 3BHK flat,” said Alok Priyadarshi, additional commissioner of police.With inputs from Peeyush Khandelwal, Hemani Bhandari and Jignasa Sinha[Discussing suicides can be triggering for some. However, suicides are preventable. A few major suicide prevention helpline numbers in India are 011-23389090 from Sumaitri (Delhi-based) and 044-24640050 from Sneha Foundation (Chennai-based).]