Man found hanging in Kolkata home, family claims deceased suffering from NRC fear

Kolkata: A 63-year-old man was found hanging in his residence in Kolkata on Sunday morning, with his family claiming that he had been living in fear that he would be sent to Bangladesh if the National Register of Citizens (NRC) was implemented.

Initial probe revealed that the deceased, Dilip Kumar Saha, had arrived in Kolkata in 1972 from Nawabganj in Dhaka and had been living in Anandapally West in the Regent Park area, a police officer said.

Saha worked as a non-teaching staff member at a private school in Dhakuria in south Kolkata.

"This morning, his wife called him several times, but received no response from inside his locked room. She then called their niece-in-law from a neighbouring house. They broke open the door to find him hanging from the ceiling fan," the officer said.

The deceased's wife Arati Saha said her husband had been worried that he would be deported to Bangladesh after implementation of the NRC.

"He has been under severe stress for quite some time regarding this. There was no other tension. He came to Kolkata in his childhood. He was afraid that he would be sent to a detention camp and then pushed back to Bangladesh, where he had nobody. He had valid voter ID card and other documents," she said.

It is suspected that this fear led him to take his own life, the police officer said, adding that a suicide note has been recovered from the room.

The matter is being investigated, the officer said.

Power Minister and local Trinamool Congress MLA Arup Biswas reached the place and spoke to the family members.

"This is what the fear of being thrown out of the country could do to a man. What they (Centre) have started in the name of the SIR shows their anti-people attitude, and the result is in front of you," Biswas said.