'I used to pamper my children a lot': What father of three Ghaziabad sisters revealed

Chetan Kumar, whose three daughters reportedly died after falling from a high-rise building in Ghaziabad, has spoken publicly about the heartbreaking incident, sharing details about the moments leading up to the tragedy. According to Kumar, he was deeply affectionate toward his children and learned about the situation only after his wife noticed that the girls had bolted their bedroom door from the inside. The sisters, Nishika (16), Prachi (14), and Pakhi (12), believed to have locked themselves in before jumping from the window one after the other.

Reflecting on their behaviour, Kumar said the girls spent long hours consuming Korean content, including dramas, games, and social media videos. He claimed he had recently taken away their phones after noticing their swollen eyes, which he attributed to excessive screen time. The decision reportedly upset them. “I always showered them with love… Was it wrong to take their phones away? I did it because their eyes were swollen,” he was quoted as saying to news agency PTI. Police officials have said that, so far, there are no signs of foul play, and early evidence suggests the sisters died by suicide in succession. Investigators are reviewing Kumar’s statements about their alleged online gaming habits and analysing digital trails. Cybercrime teams are attempting to locate the missing phones through IMEI tracking in order to recover data from Korean applications.

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Complicated household dynamics

Authorities have also pointed to an unusual family arrangement. Kumar is married to three women, Sujata, Heena, and Tina, who are biological sisters. Reports indicate that the eldest daughter was born to Sujata, while the two younger girls were Heena’s children. Officials further revealed that the family had been grappling with financial difficulties since the Covid-19 pandemic, with mounting debt contributing to their social withdrawal. Investigators believe the sisters shared a stronger emotional bond with their father than with their mothers; notably, both a suicide note and a diary discovered in the room were addressed solely to him.

A nine-page pocket diary recovered from the site reportedly highlights feelings of isolation, emotional distress, and a strong fascination with Korean culture. The tragedy has also drawn renewed attention to Kumar’s past after police disclosed that a former live-in partner died in 2015 in a case that was ruled a suicide at the time.

Calls for action against online games

Meanwhile, the girls’ maternal grandfather has appealed to authorities to prohibit Korean task-based gaming platforms, arguing that such apps may be influencing children toward dangerous behaviour. Demonstrations have since been reported in parts of Delhi, with protesters demanding tighter regulations on online gaming access for minors.

“I urge the government to ban these games so that no more children lose their lives,” he said, according to PTI.