Three teenage sisters who shared a love of K-pop and Korean culture have died after falling from the ninth-floor balcony of their family apartment in northern India, in what police believe was a suicide.
The girls - aged16, 14 and 12 - were found dead outside the residential building in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, in the early hours of Wednesday morning, according to The Daily Express.
Police said the incident unfolded after their parents had confiscated their mobile phones, a move investigators believe left the sisters distressed.
Residents in the apartment complex told authorities they were woken by loud cries coming from the family’s flat. Officers later learned the sisters had locked themselves on the balcony, preventing their parents from reaching them.
Assistant Commissioner of Police Atul Kumar Singh told local media: "When we reached the scene, we confirmed that three girls, daughters of Chetan Kumar, had died after jumping from the building."
Exactly what happened in the final moments remains unclear. Investigators are examining whether two of the sisters may have fallen while trying to stop the third, the Express reported.
Police said the girls had recently become deeply immersed in Korean pop culture and had even adopted Korean names.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Nimish Patel said they had been denied access to their phones for several days, a restriction that 'appeared to have affected them'.
An eight-page note was also recovered from the flat.
Their father, Chetan Kumar, told officers it read in part: "Papa, sorry, Korea is our life, Korea is our biggest love… we cannot give it up. So we are killing ourselves."
Authorities are continuing to investigate the circumstances leading to the deaths.