A retired headmaster of the Hare School in Calcutta apparently hanged himself at his home in East Burdwan on Tuesday evening because he was facing financial difficulties as monthly pension had eluded him even after retirement three years ago.

Sunil Kumar Das, 63, had served at the Hare School on College Street for over a decade after stints in Malda and Murshidabad districts. Family members said Sunil, who had retired as the headmaster in September 2019, had gone into a “depression” over the failure of the state government to disburse his pension. Sunil’s residence is at Debipur village.

The family members said Sunil didn’t get the pension because he couldn’t complete all paper works.

Covid cases in Bengal

Bengal on Wednesday reported 393 Covid-19 infections, 607 recoveries and four deaths.

The state has at present 4,624 active patients — 4,634 in home isolation and 190 at hospitals. According to a state government bulletin, the recovery rate was 98.76 per cent and the mortality rate 1.02 per cent on Wednesday. When 9,723 samples were tested, the positivity rate was 4.04 per cent.