An elderly couple battling critical ailments and a financial crisis caused by mounting medical expenses were found dead in Anandapur on Monday night, with police suspecting that the husband had killed the wife before taking his own life.
The police said the 77-year-old husband, Amulya Samaddar, who had recently been diagnosed with a cardiac ailment, is suspected to have jumped from the terrace of a four-storeyed building where he lived in Anandapur’s Nonadanga.
The 60-year-old wife, Gita, was found dead inside their home with multiple cuts on her.
The woman, investigators said, had been bedridden since she became paralysed 10 years ago and her husband was her caregiver.
The police said the elderly woman had cut marks on her neck, which could have caused her death. Officers suspect the husband had killed his wife and then jumped to his death from the terrace of the four-storeyed building.
The Samaddars stayed in room number 404 of AF Block of Nonadanga Balmiki Ambedkar Abasan. They are survived by two daughters, one of whom is married and the other one lived with them.
"We received information on Monday night that an elderly man had fallen from the terrace of a building at Balmiki Ambedkar Abasan in Nonadanga, near EM Bypass. On reaching the spot, we learnt that his wife was also lying senseless in a pool of blood inside their house. A knife was found at the spot and the woman had multiple cuts on her. Her neck was bleeding profusely," said an officer of Anandapur police station.
The police said a note was found in which Samaddar purportedly mentioned that no one was responsible for his and his wife's death.
"We came to know that Samaddar was recently diagnosed with a heart ailment and was to go to hospital on Tuesday. His wife had been paralysed for 10 years. Some financial crisis might have been behind the turn of events,” said an investigator.
A senior police officer at Lalbazar said the elderly man learnt about his heart ailment when he visited a doctor on Monday.
"It appears the family was facing financial problems because of the expenses for the wife’s treatment. The news of the new ailment might have driven the elderly man to the extreme step,” the officer said.
The bodies have been sent for post mortem. A case of homicide and another of unnatural death have been registered at Anandapur police station.