A Swedish national was found dead in a guest house in New Town on Tuesday afternoon, a day after his family lodged a missing diary with Kolkata police by email.
A note was found near the body, which the police are trying to decipher with the help of a translator.
Piortr Lukaszyk came to Kolkata on May 10 and checked into a star hotel along EM Bypass.
He checked out from the hotel around 1pm on May 13 and checked into the New Town guest house at 1.26pm, the police said. He travelled from the hotel to the guest house in an app cab.
Kolkata police said they received an email from his family on Monday, which said Lukaszyk was missing.
“Immediately after receiving the email, we informed the neighbouring police districts and shared his details with them. During the investigation, we found that he was staying in a hotel along EM Bypass and checked out on May 13. Before we could progress any more, we received information about his death from the Bidhannagar police commissionerate,” said joint commissioner, crime, Kolkata police, Sankha Shubhra Chakrabarty.
Lukaszyk was found unconscious in New Town’s Eden Rocks guest house at DD 195, street number 295.
The Swede was on the bed when officers from the local Techno City police station, alerted by officials of the guest house, broke open the door of room number 103.
He was taken to a hospital where he was declared dead.
According to the email that the Kolkata police received, Lukaszyk, who was in his 30s, came to India on May 10. Kolkata was his first stop.
“The email said Lukaszyk had not been answering phone calls from his family since Monday and that he had been depressed,” said an officer at Lalbazar.
“The Swede had checked into the guest house as a tourist. On Tuesday, he instructed the staff to not disturb him.”
The Bidhannagar police said they had been able to contact a person whose phone number was on the “Emergency List” of Lukaszyk.
“The woman who answered the call said she was in India, but not in Kolkata. She said she would reach Kolkata at the earliest,” said an officer.
Sources in the Bidhannagar police said he had enquired for a car rental service on Monday with the guest house staff.
The police said what Lukaszyk did for a living was not clear to them till Tuesday evening.
“According to the guest house manager, he was supposed to check out on Tuesday morning. When he failed to do so and also did not respond to knocks on the door, guest house officials alerted the local police station,” said an officer of the Bidhannagar commissionerate.
A few medicine strips were found near the body, an officer said. The body has been sent for post-mortem.
An assistant commissioner in the Bidhannagar commissionerate said the door was locked from inside and had to be broken open.
The police said they have alerted the man’s family in Sweden.
“He came here on a tourist visa. He was travelling alone,” the investigator said.