The three sisters, aged 8, 4 and 2, were brought dead to a hospital in eastern Delhi on Tuesday by their mother.
“The autopsy report suggests the children died due to health complications related to malnourishment and starvation,” said Pankaj Kumar Singh, a deputy police commissioner.
Singh said that were no injury marks on the children’s bodies and the police did not suspect any foul play.
The children had moved into a slum in eastern Delhi’s Mandawali area on Saturday with their parents after they were forced to leave their earlier residence as they could not pay the rent, police said quoting neighbours.
The father was a rickshaw driver whose rickshaw had reportedly been stolen a few days ago, leaving him unemployed, police said.
“The father had gone for work before the incident and has not returned since. The mother is mentally unstable,” Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said in a Twitter post.
“The postmortem indicates the children died 12-18 hours before they were brought to the hospital. The postmortem showed no trace of food in their stomachs... they had likely not eaten for seven to eight days,” Amita Saxena, medical superintendent at the Lal Bahadur Shashtri Hospital said.
The Delhi government has ordered a magisterial inquiry into the incident.
Sisodia, who met the mother, said the Delhi government would take care of the woman, and would ensure the best possible treatment for her.
He also promised financial help of Rs25,000, adding that when the father returns, more help will be provided.
“The death of three girls in the national capital due to whatever reason – poverty or starvation – is a matter of great concern for all of us,” Sisodia said after meeting the mother.
“If the deaths happened due to poverty or if it happened due to starvation or any other disease, it is the failure of our system,” he said.
Sisodia asked the Planning Department to have all the data on education, health and other details of “people living in each and every lane of the city.”
Meanwhile, the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) called the incident “extremely shocking and tragic” and asked the police to provide details of the case by today.
Congress leader chief Ajay Maken, who met the family, expressed shock over the “malnutrition deaths” in the national capital, which has the highest per capita income in the country.
“Despite being here for such a long time the family did not have a ration card. How could the elder daughter who went to school die of malnutrition and starvation despite midday meals being provided in the school?” he asked.
Slamming Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s government, he said: “Where was the Aam Aadmi canteen which was promised wherein the poor were supposed to get a meal for Rs10?”
Maken said if people living in Sisodia’s constituency could meet such a fate, “imagine what would be the everyday challenges faced by people living in other areas”.
The issue was also raised in the Lok Sabha with East Delhi MP Maheish Girri calling it a failure of Kejriwal and demanded the removal of AAP-led Delhi government.
Girri also wrote to President Ram Nath Kovind requesting him to immediately dismiss the “incompetent and inefficient” Delhi government as it “has completely failed to discharge its responsibility”.
Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari also demanded the dismissal of the government.