Neighbours and friends gather outside the Ghosals’ housing estate in Lake Gardens after hearing about the fatal mishap. Picture by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya

Till late on Monday, Binapani Ghosal did not know that her son, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter had died in an accident and her grandson was battling for life in hospital.

Family members feared that the 81-year-old, attended to by a nurse in her third-floor Lake Gardens apartment, may not be able to withstand the shock.

“We are not allowing anybody to meet her. She has not been keeping well, suffering from various geriatric problems,” said Anirban Chatterjee, a neighbour.

“I do not know how to break the shocking news to her,” said Saukarya Ghosal, a nephew of Ranadeb.

Relatives hope that seeing grandson Ritam alive will give the aged woman the strength to survive. The student of Nava Nalanda School scored 85 per cent marks in Higher Secondary 2008.

“He is a very good student,” said a teacher of the school.

Sister Rupsa, who studied in Class IX in the same school, too, was a good student.

Swati Bhattacharya, who studied in the same section as Ritam in classes IX and X, was in a state of shock. “I spoke to him yesterday. We talked about our probable scores in the joint entrance examination,” said Swati.

“Ritam played cricket well and was a member of the school team,” she added.

The couple’s colleagues, who had gathered in front of the house but were not allowed in, were crestfallen.

“I cannot believe this. I was quite close to the couple,” said Rabindra Nath Chandra, Ipsita’s colleague at a primary health centre in Bishnupur, South 24-Parganas.

Quite a few of the couple’s patients were seen in front of the building. They, too, were struggling to come to grips with the tragedy.