The deaths have shocked people in a city that has the second highest per capita income in the country.
Three minor sisters, who died on Tuesday, had no trace of fat, their stomach was absolutely empty as gross malnutrition killed them, a second autopsy confirmed, amid a spiralling political blame-game and a police hunt for the rickshaw-puller father.
The kids had not eaten for eight days, doctors indicated on Thursday, with some of them saying they had not seen such a case. The deaths have shocked people in a city that has the second highest per capita income in the country.
The "mentally unsound" mother, Beena, was sent for counselling. This was after she failed to help police establish the sequence of events. "We asked how the kids died. She only asked for food and almost collapsed," said a police officer.
The father, Mangal Singh, had gone in search of a job four days ago, and has not returned home.
An initial post-mortem had also pointed to starvation.
But it was also feared that Parul (2), Shikha (4) and Mansi (8) might have been poisoned, after a forensic team inspected the one-room house in east Delhi's Mandawali, and found some medicine bottles and pills.
With help from a neighbour, the mother had rushed the kids to hospital where doctors declared them dead on arrival. No injury marks were found on the bodies. The family had shifted to the house from a nearby shanty because of rain only on Saturday.
Leaders of BJP and Congress visited the neighbourhood and both targeted Delhi's Aam Aadmi Party government that blamed the Centre-appointed Lieutenant Governor for the deaths.
"It is utterly shameful. I don't want to make it about politics. The Centre sends subsidised food. It is the Delhi government's job to deliver it to citizens," said BJP's Delhi chief Manoj Tiwari.
Congress's Ajay Maken, after meeting the girls' mother, said: "Shocking to hear their story, the failure of the government and the system."
AAP accused the BJP-led Central government of blocking its scheme for doorstep delivery of services, including ration.
Police has contacted some of Singh's friends, including their neighbour Narayan, to find out if he had told them where he was heading.
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