NEW DELHI, Feb 4: Three sisters died after jumping from the ninth floor of their apartment building in Ghaziabad in the early hours of Wednesday, police said, leaving behind an eight-page handwritten suicide note that ended with the words, “Sorry, Papa.”

The girls — Pakhi (12), Prachi (14), and Vishika (16) — jumped from the balcony of their family’s flat at Bharat City around 2.15 am, after allegedly becoming deeply obsessed with an online Korean task-based game, investigators said.

According to police, the sisters bolted the balcony door and jumped one after the other from a window. Their screams and the sound of their bodies hitting the ground woke their parents, neighbours, and security guards at the apartment complex. By the time their parents forced open the balcony door, the girls were already dead.

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

The girls were rushed by ambulance to a hospital in Loni, where doctors declared them dead, Singh told NDTV, adding that further legal proceedings are underway.

Visuals from the scene later showed the bodies lying on the ground, their mother wailing in grief, and shocked neighbours gathered at the complex.

Investigators are focusing on a diary and an eight-page suicide note written on the pages of a pocket notebook, which detailed the sisters’ gaming and mobile phone activities.

“Is diary me jo kuch bhi likha hai woh sab padh lo kyuki ye sab sach hai (Read everything written in this diary because all of it is true.) Read now. I’m really sorry. Sorry, Papa,” the note read, accompanied by a hand-drawn crying emoji.

Police said the note repeatedly referenced Korean culture. The girls had allegedly taken Korean names and were intensely influenced by Korean media and games. Their father, Chetan Kumar, described what he said was an extreme addiction to “everything Korean.”

“They said, ‘Papa sorry, Korea is our life, Korea is our biggest love, whatever you say, we cannot give it up,’” Kumar said, breaking down. “This should not happen to any parent or child. Parents should not let their children play games. I was not aware of the game, or I would have never let them play it.”

The middle sister, Prachi, was described by the family as the leader among the three and was believed to be leading the task-based game. In recent days, their parents had restricted their access to mobile phones, police said.

“The investigation so far has not revealed any specific game name,” said senior police officer Nimish Patel. “But it is clear that the girls were influenced by Korean culture and have mentioned it in the suicide note. For the past few days, they had been denied access to a mobile phone, a restriction that appeared to have affected them.”

Police said the sisters did everything together, including bathing and eating. Their gaming addiction reportedly began during the COVID-19 pandemic. Over time, they became irregular at school and eventually stopped attending altogether, nearly two years ago.

A task-based game typically requires players to complete a series of increasingly difficult activities to advance to the next level, offering psychological rewards that can deepen engagement.

According to police, Chetan Kumar is married to two sisters and lives with both wives and their children, all daughters. Two of the girls who died were daughters of one wife, while the third was their half-sister.

Visuals from the family’s home also showed jottings on a bedroom wall, including phrases such as “I am very very alone” and “make me a hert of broken (sic).”

The incident has left the family and community reeling and comes amid growing global concern over children’s exposure to online games, social media, and digital platforms, underscoring the darker side of digital nativity.