Ghaziabad triple suicide: ‘Korea is our life. You can’t free us. We are ending our lives’

Dubai: A chilling picture has emerged in the tragic deaths of three minor sisters who plunged from the ninth floor of their apartment building in Ghaziabad in the early hours of Wednesday, with investigators linking the incident to an extreme obsession with Korean culture and an alleged task-based online “Korean love game”.

The sisters — Pakhi (12), Prachi (14) and Vishika (16) — jumped around 2.15 am after leaving behind a handwritten note that read simply: “Sorry, Papa.”

Police said the girls quietly left their bedroom in the dead of night, went to the balcony area, bolted the door from inside and climbed out of a window one after the other, according to Indian media reports. Their screams and the sound of bodies hitting the ground jolted their parents, neighbours and security guards awake at the Bharat City housing complex.

By the time their parents broke open the balcony door, it was too late.

“When we reached the spot, we confirmed that three girls, daughters of Chetan Kumar, had died after jumping from the building,” said Assistant Commissioner of Police Atul Kumar Singh.

Visuals later showed the bodies lying on the ground as their mother wailed in grief, while shocked residents gathered at the complex.

Diary and note reveal obsession

Investigators recovered a handwritten suicide note along with an eight-page diary that detailed the sisters’ mobile phone use and their intense fascination with everything Korean — including online games, movies, music, shows and what is popularly known as K-pop culture.

The note, written in a Hindi-English mix, read:

“Is diary me jo kuch bhi likha hai woh sab sach hai. Read now!!! I’m really sorry. Sorry, Papa.”

(“Read everything written in this diary because it is all true. I’m really sorry. Sorry, Papa.”)

According to police, the diary revealed that the girls had even adopted Korean names and referred to Korean culture as their entire world.

Their father, Chetan Kumar, broke down while describing what appeared to be an extreme emotional attachment, NDTV reported.

“They used to say, ‘Korea is our life, Korea is our biggest love. Whatever you say, we cannot give it up,’” he said.

They used to say, “We can’t leave Korea. You can’t free us. We are ending our lives,” their father told NDTV

“They often said they wanted to go to Korea. I did not know that this game involved such tasks. I came to know about all this only after the police forensic team examined their mobile phones,” Chetan Kumar said.

Officials said the sisters were allegedly playing a Korean task-based online game on their father’s phone. Preliminary findings suggest the game involved a series of tasks, with suicide allegedly listed as the final objective — though the exact name of the game is still being verified.

Phone restriction before tragedy

Police said the parents had recently restricted the girls’ mobile phone access after repeated warnings about excessive gaming.

“The suicide note suggests they were upset about the phone being taken away,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police Nimish Patel.

Investigators are now analysing digital evidence, including online activity linked to the game and other content consumed by the sisters.

Schooling disrupted since pandemic

Officials also revealed that the girls had gradually withdrawn from school after the Covid-19 pandemic.

They became irregular in attendance before eventually stopping altogether, spending most of their time together on mobile phones.

Despite being 16 years old, the eldest sister was reportedly enrolled only in Class 4, reflecting prolonged educational disruption.

The sisters reportedly did everything together — eating, bathing and spending hours online.

Witness recalls desperate final moments

Adding a heartbreaking dimension to the tragedy, an eyewitness from the apartment complex said it appeared that only one of the sisters had planned to jump, while the other two tried to stop her.

Arun Kumar, a resident of the complex, said he noticed the girls sitting silently on a dark balcony around 2 am, something he found unusual.

“It looked abnormal. There were no lights on,” he said.

Moments later, the tragedy unfolded.

“I saw all three of them fall. One seemed determined to jump, while the others appeared to be trying to pull her back,” he recalled. “The planning was of one. The other two fell while trying to save her.”

Police said all angles — including online influence, mental health and family circumstances — are being thoroughly investigated.