New Delhi, July 4: A note recovered from the Bhatia family house that says the "earth will shake" when they will complete the "final ritual" reinforces the role of superstition in the mass suicides that took place last week.

Locals are curious to know whether the 4.0 magnitude earthquake in Delhi-NCR on Sunday afternoon is linked to their suicide. The tremors were reported nearly seven hours after the bodies were recovered at 7:30am.

The note which has fuelled the fear among neighbours reads as follows: "Antim samay mein aakhiri ichcha ki poorti ke waqt aasmaan hilega, dharti kaapegi. Uss waqt tum ghabrana mat. Mantro ka jaap badha dena. Main aakar tumhein utaar loonga. Auron ko bhi utaarne mein madad karoonga. (At the last moment and during the fulfilment of the last wish, the sky will move and the earth will tremble. Do not panic at that moment. Chant more vigorously. I will come and bring you drown. I will also help bring down the others)”

Investigators claim the note was written by 45-year-old Lalit Bhatia, the fourth most-oldest person in the deceased family. Other set of note retrieved from the house have also matched his hand-writing. In some of the hand-written letters, Lalit claimed to have received divine instructions from his "dead father".

Police have appealed the locals against falling prey to rumours and misinformation.

The Sant Nagar police station, under whose jurisdiction the house of deceased is located, has received over a dozen calls in the past couple of days offering "supernatural explanations" to the deaths of the deceased.

While most of the calls have been dismissed as "bogus", one received from Jamia Nagar is being taken seriously. The caller claimed he knows an occult guru who was in touch with the deceased.

The relatives of Bhatia family continue to deny the superstition angle, claiming the family was "never in touch with any tantrik baba". Refuting the autopsy report which has cited suicide as the cause of death, Lalit’s nephew Ketan Nagpal asks how could the entire family be brainwashed to end their lives.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 04, 2018 06:35 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).