A garment merchant has apparently hanged himself after allegedly killing his wife and son at a rented accommodation in North 24-Parganas’s Sodepur.
Khardah police seized the trio’s decomposed bodies on Friday afternoon after neighbours complained of stench from the house at Basakbagan in Sodepur. The police said Samir Kumar Guha, 58, was hanging from a ceiling fan, while his wife Jhuma, 51, and son Babai, 22, were found lifeless on bed.
“Crippling debt and poor business because of the economic crisis triggered by Covid-19-induced lockdown appear to be the reasons for the drastic step,” said an investigating officer of Khardah police.
The police found a suicide note written on June 2 by Samir and addressed to one of his friends. The note described the trader’s financial crisis and advised the friend to pay his dues by selling his properties. Samir also wrote down details of his creditors against the outstanding amounts.
Deputy commissioner of police, Barrackpore commissionerate (central zone), Aashish Maurya, said: “Prima facie, it appears the man probably poisoned his wife and the son to death and then killed himself. It could not be immediately ascertained whether the woman and the son were beaten up before death since the bodies were decomposed. We have sent the bodies for autopsy and the cause of the death can be ascertained only after that.”
Neighbours said Guha used to supply garments to local retailers and had settled in the area four years ago.
“His business suffered a serious setback during March last year when the Centre announced a lockdown,” said Tarun Das, a friend of Samir.
“Samir had been in a deep financial crisis since last year. We tried our best to support him, but he went into depression because of pressure from his creditors and wholesalers to whom he owed money.”
Neighbours and relatives claimed that the couple and their son had not been seen in the past two days. They suspected something was amiss when stench started emanating from their rented home, prompting them to call the police.
