2,000 followers, 1 deleted YouTube channel: How online fantasy and isolation shaped Ghaziabad sisters’ lives and deaths

GHAZIABAD: The three sisters who allegedly died by suicide in Bharat City had launched a YouTube channel last year to share their love for K-dramas and cartoon characters, building more than 2,000 followers in a few months. But the channel was deleted about 10 days ago after a festering rift with their father, Chetan Kumar, who objected to what he saw as their girls’ growing fixation with Korean culture.

The girls — aged 16, 14 and 12 — were found lying next to each other on the society premises early on Wednesday, directly below their ninth-floor window. They were taken to hospital, where they were declared dead on arrival. A senior police officer said Kumar had told interrogators his daughters were “living in their own world”.




Autopsy rules out foul play in sisters’ suicide They repeatedly spoke about going to Korea after watching reels and other social media content, Kumar told interrogators. “They ran only one channel, where they posted content about Korea and cartoon characters,” the officer said, adding that the girls often styled themselves as “royal characters like Elsa and Cinderella”, and drew princess cartoons.

Kumar — a stock trader — told police the girls initially used their parents’ phones to watch movies, series and cartoons and to even create content for their YouTube channel. About six months ago, he bought two phones for his eldest daughter (16) and her 14-year-old half-sister, believing they could “become famous like other YouTubers”, the officer said.

But as the sisters’ obsession with Korea hardened and they repeatedly asked their debt-ridden father to take them there, Kumar took both phones away. He sold both the devices — the first one three months ago and the second a couple of weeks back.

Around 10 days ago, the girls were made to delete their channel from one the parents’ phones. Kumar told police he didn’t remember the name of the channel. “They listened to Korean music, watched Korean films, dramas, web series and cartoons. They also wanted to go to Korea. All three girls wanted us to accept Korean culture. But when we refused, their behaviour towards us changed and they went into a shell. They lived in their own world,” he added.

The trio had an unnatural childhood, one bereft of friends. Since Covid, they stopped going to school and were neither tutored at home. According to cops, this isolation appeared to deepen their dependence on each other and on an online fantasy life. Scribbles like “my life is very very alone” on a wall of their room showed how lonely they were.

Around 10pm on Tuesday, the girls spoke to their father briefly before retiring to their room. “I asked them if they had dinner, they said yes. They insisted on going to Korea again, but I told them that we are Indians and should behave like one instead of adopting a foreign culture,” Kumar said.

The sisters had begun dressing and styling their hair like Koreans. They also used symbols seen in the web series Squid Game and set their phone wallpapers dressed in Korean attire. “After our conversation ended, they took my wife’s phone and used it till midnight.

Around 2am, they woke up and went to the puja room, where they locked the door and jumped from the window,” Kumar added. When a police team broke the room’s door open, they found photos of the children strewn on the floor and a note that wanted their father to “READ NOW”. DCP (trans-Hindon) Nimish Patil said a team had been formed to recover the two phones that Kumar sold. “Once the phones are recovered, we will send them to a forensic team to examine,” he said.

The autopsy report ruled out foul play. “It revealed the cause of death as shock and haemorrhage due to ante-mortem injuries. According to the autopsy, no other injury was found on the girls’ bodies. So, we have ruled out any foul play,” Patil said. Kumar admitted he was under financial stress, but insisted it was not the trigger behind the alleged suicide. “I had a loan of Rs 30 lakh, but this was not the reason behind my three daughters’ death. They wanted to become Koreans, and I wanted to raise them as Indians… They made their own world of fantasy.”