Samar Mukherjee, who committed suicide after a visit by local police officers. A Telegraph picture

Police need not have raided Samar Mukherjee’s house in the dead of night, home secretary Asok Mohan Chakrabarti said on Monday.

Mukherjee’s family members said the police raid at 3am and the harassment for an alleged default on loan repayment pushed the 62-year-old retired employee of the state electricity board to suicide.

“Ideally, police should visit a house between sunrise and sunset. I have no idea what prompted them to go to Mukherjee’s house at an odd hour,” Chakrabarti said.

Echoing Chakrabarti’s views, a senior officer of South 24-Parganas police said: “Mukherjee was neither a hardened criminal nor a fugitive gangster. There was no need to raid his house at the dead of night.”

District police superintendent Praveen Kumar ordered a probe into the Mukherjees’ allegation and sought the names of the cops who went to the Behala house.

“A probe has been ordered as the family members of the deceased had alleged that the police visit had prompted Mukherjee to commit suicide. We are trying to find out what led the cops to visit the house at that odd hour,” said Kumar.

The family members said the cops had threatened to arrest Mukherjee, who was suffering from various ailments and was unable to walk. They left after asking him to report at Behala police station the next morning. Around 7.30am on Sunday, Mukherjee’s body was found hanging from the ceiling in the toilet.

The police came to know that Mukherjee had taken a personal loan of Rs 75,000 from the private bank in 2004 and agreed to repay it in 18 equated monthly instalments of Rs 4,966 each.

“But several of his post-dated cheques bounced. He paid Rs 36,510 in May, 2005. Since then there was no repayment. The bank moved court in February, 2006, and an arrest warrant was issued against Mukherjee,” said an officer.

The family members refused to talk on Monday. “A number of top cops visited our house and questioned us,” said Mukherjee’s daughter-in-law Swati. “We will consult our lawyer and decide on our course of action.”