Three minor sisters fell to their deaths from their ninth-floor apartment in Bharat City township in Ghaziabad distrist of Uttar Pradesh, during the early hours of Wednesday, February 4, in what police describe as a tragedy driven by extreme obsession with Korean dramas, games, and pop culture.
The girls, identified as Nishika (16), Prachi (14), and Pakhi (12), were declared dead at a hospital in Loni after the incident that occurred around 2 am.
Atul Kumar Singh, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Shalimar Garden, said authorities received information about the incident at approximately 2.15 am. “The Police Response Vehicle received information that three girls had jumped from the ninth-floor balcony of flat number 907 in Tower B-1 of Bharat City, located in the Tila Mod police station area, and had died at the scene,” he said.
An eyewitness account came from Arun Singh, who lives on the tenth floor of the building opposite. He told The Indian Express he saw the oldest girl sitting on the window ledge, rocking back and forth. “It appeared that the second sister was hugging the older sister, and they were rocking together. Suddenly, the older sister toppled backwards and fell through the window, and the second sister came with her. The youngest sister, who too was at the window, appeared to lunge forward to catch them, but she too fell through the opening,” he recounted.
An eight-page note discovered by police in a pocket diary revealed the girls’ intense attachment to Korean culture. They accused their parents of attempting to separate them from what they described as their “life”.
“How will you make us leave Korean? Korean was our life, so how dare you make us leave our life? You didn’t know how much we loved them. Now you have seen the proof,” the note read, according to police. The sisters wrote they loved Korean actors and K-pop groups more than their family, and rejected the prospect of marrying Indian men.
Their father, Chetan Kumar, told IANS the note included this message: “Sorry, Papa...we cannot leave Korea. Korea is our life, and you can’t make us leave it. That’s why we are committing suicide.”
Alok Priyadarshi, Additional Commissioner of Police, Ghaziabad, said the girls were under the influence of K-dramas. “They had left school and all their time was spent watching Korean dramas on mobile phones. On Tuesday night, after other members of the family went to sleep, the girls locked themselves in their room and jumped to their death,” he said.
Police said the sisters were addicted to a Korean task-based interactive game and had stopped attending school since the Covid-19 pandemic. Chetan confirmed to The Indian Express his daughters had quit school at least three years ago, with academic struggles preceding their departure. “They failed in class, and thereafter resisted going to school,” he said.
The father revealed he had confiscated the girls’ mobile phones several days before the tragedy. He told The Indian Express: “They were crazy about them. They tried to speak like the characters in those dramas, behave like them, imitated them. Three months ago, they had created their channel on YouTube, which I deleted. They were very upset.”
DCP Nimish Patil told IANS the restriction on phone usage in recent days may have intensified their distress. “As we spoke to the family now, they had somewhat restricted the girls from using the phone for the past few days. The girls were troubled by this, and because of that, they took this decision,” he said.
The father had married twice, with both wives being sisters, police said. He has five children from the two marriages, including a nine-year-old son who is mute and deaf. The family was living on rent and facing financial strain with debts of Rs 2 crore, officers said.
Investigators continue examining the girls’ mobile phones and diary entries. The case remains open, with police speaking to family members. No FIR has been registered yet.
