Calcutta, May 16: Swati Roychowdhury has not spoken a word or shed a tear since she heard about her husband Apurba Roychowdhury’s death at Titagarh Jute Mill yesterday.

Clad in a white sari, she sat on a sofa stone-faced among her relatives.

“Didi hasn’t spoken a word since last evening, when we heard of Apurbada’s death,” said Swati’s cousin Chandra Dutta, sitting at the Roychowdhurys’ second-floor flat on Central Road, Jadavpur.

Roychowdhury, 65, was battered to death in his office, on the northern fringes of the city, by suspected members of a Naxalite union.

They hit him after accusing the management of sending members of the bigger Citu-affiliated union to disrupt a meeting they were holding to press for better wages.

Chandra’s husband Manoj said Roychowdhury spent most of the time in his quarters in Titagarh, about 30km from Jadavpur, and came home once a week. “Before leaving for office on Wednesday, he played with his grandson, only a few months old.”

Roychowdhury’s son Rajarshi, 32, is a businessman.

“Apurbababu was a jovial person and enjoyed music,” said Debabrata Bhattacharya, a neighbour.

A diploma holder in lab- our law, Roychowdhury had joined the Titagarh mill in 2004 after having worked as a labour welfare officer or personnel manager for 40 years.

Nineteen people have been arrested in connection with the murder.

The mill’s chief security officer, D.K. Chowdhury, said production would remain suspended “until normality was restored”.