A 60-year-old retired official of a tea company who lived alone in his apartment in a Parnasree housing complex was found dead on Friday evening.

His wife, a teacher in a Nainital boarding school, and daughter, who is married and lives in Bangalore, alerted police when their calls to Indrajit Deepak Samuel Uppal went unanswered for a few days.

The police suspect the body, which had blood marks around the face, was at least three days old.

The door was locked from inside and a purported suicide note was found in the house.

“We received a call from the victim’s wife, Chandana Uppal, around 3pm on Friday. We rushed to the flat and found several unopened newspapers bundled between the main door and the collapsible gate. When no one responded to our knocks, we broke open the main door and entered the two-bedroom flat. We found the man lying dead in one of the rooms,” said an officer of Parnasree police station.

Uppal was found lying on the floor, on his back, with dried blood on his face. There were patches of blood on the bed sheet, a towel and a small bucket was near him. A half-empty glass containing a liquid and an empty bottle of phenyl were found at the spot, the police said.

The note the police found said no one was responsible for his death.

“Uppal, who had retired recently, had gone to visit his wife in Nainital a few months ago. He had been alone in Calcutta for the last three-four months. His family said he had last spoken over the phone three days ago and was online on WhatsApp on June 15, after which he had neither responded to calls or text messages,” the officer said.

The caretaker and neighbours said he was last seen outside his home at least a fortnight ago and was visibly feeble and ill.

The police have found that Uppal had been an introvert who would usually keep to himself in the apartment and had no friends in the building.

According to the family’s statement to the police, Uppal had been undergoing treatment for neurological problems.

“The entire house was found in a state of disarray. Broken egg shells, stale food, empty glass bottles, empty cigarette packets were found strewn all over the rooms,” an officer who visited the flat said.

The air conditioner was running when the police broke open the door — a possible reason why the odour had not reached outside the apartment.

He was declared dead at Vidyasagar State General Hospital on Friday evening. The body was sent for post-mortem.

Uppal’s wife and daughter were informed and a probe into unnatural death has been initiated.