Retd govt officer, wife found dead, his throat slit

KOLKATA: A

retired deputy secretary

of the state government, along with his wife, was found dead on Monday night his throat slit multiple times —at their home on

Beni Master Lane

in

Behala

near

Shakuntala Park.

The police, who are awaiting the post-mortem report, suspect

Rathindranath

Roy (73) first killed his wife and then ended his life but they have not completely ruled out the possibility of a double murder.

However, the contents of three notes recovered from the spot, and the sequence of events described by the couple’s family, have strengthened the police’s belief of a

possible suicide pact

. Roy was reportedly devastated when his wife, Meenakshi (62), recently got bed-ridden following a cerebral stroke two years ago and seemed upset their son and daughter could not be with them, despite their best intentions, police said.

“We can come to a conclusion only after post-mortem reports arrive,” said DC (Behala) Nilanjan Biswas. Unnatural death cases have been registered at the Parnasree police station. “His throat bore multiple slits, some very deep. No outsider seemed to have entered. This suggests he ended his life. He expressed his loneliness and his children’s inability to be with them in all the three notes,” said police. “The possibility of him killing his wife can’t be ruled out.”

Rathindranath’s brother Buddhhadeb and sister-in-law Uma, who live next door, said the couple had been living in their two-storey house since 1986. “We lived in adjacent plots and shared everything with each,” Uma said. The Roys’ son Rajib, an automobile engineer, and his wife live in Gurgaon and their daughter, Moumita Roy Ghatak, lives barely 2km away at Shibrampur, with her husband. “Around 10.30pm on Monday, Rajib called to ask if his mother had indeed died. He said his father called to give him the news but hung upI sent Uma to check,” Buddhadeb said.

When Rathindranath opened the door, Uma saw Meenakshi lying on the bed. “She was cold. When I asked him when she had died, he said one-and-ahalf hours ago. It was strange because Meenakshi’s sister, Poornima Kar, and her husband had visited them that evening and even their help, Jayanti, left around 7pm. She did not say anything about Meenakshi being ill. Rathindranath said he could manage himself, but cried uncontrollably. I left to bring my husband back,” Uma told TOI.

About 10 minutes later, Poornima, informed by them, also arrived. “Poornima and I kept knocking on their door but to no avail. We called Rathindranath on his mobile but there was no reply. We entered through the side door to find Rathindranath lying close to his wife’s legs. His thorat was slit. Poornima’s screams alerted the neighbours who called police,” Uma said.

The police recovered a kitchen knife, smeared in blood, and three suicide notes. In the notes, Rathindranath rued how his son could not return due to his job and his daughter, despite her intentions, could not help them. “Tai amra dujone jiboner goti rodh korlam (So, we are ending our lives),” read the last line. “After Meenakshi got bedridden, he spoke very little. That was perhaps the only indication of his mental status. But it’s hard to believe my brother, who took care of boudiwhenever the help would be absent, could do such a thing,” said Budhhadeb.