Calcutta, Sept. 9 :    Calcutta, Sept. 9:  More than 36 hours after he went missing, leaving behind a hurriedly-written suicide note, the body of lyricist Pulak Bandopadhyay was found floating in the Hooghly this morning. Police said the 67-year-old lyricist had killed himself by jumping into the river at dusk on Tuesday. ?He jumped off a launch called ?Sonar Bangla?,? said Surajit Kar Purakayastha, superintendent of police, Howrah. Police divers retrieved the bloated body, which was identified by the lyricist?s son on the river bank near jetty number three on the Calcutta side of the Hooghly. Thousands of people gathered at Bandopadhyay?s ancestral home at Salkia, Howrah, where the body was brought laid. After leaving home on Tuesday evening, Bandopadhyay, dressed in white kurta and pyjamas, had travelled up and down the rain-fed Hooghly in two motor launches before killing himself, eyewitnesses said. ?He seemed disturbed,?? said Durga Sen, who sat next to him on the ?Sonar Bangla?. ?I did not know then that it was Bandopadhyay. I saw this man suddenly stand up, rush through the passengers on the deck and jump off.? A life-boat was lowered at the spot. But Bandopadhyay could not be traced. The matter was reported to the police after the launch reached its destination. The police ? who had received a report from the lyricist?s family about the suicide note ? suspected that the passenger who had jumped off was Bandopadhyay. One of the country?s most successful songwriters with a few thousand lyrics to his credit, Bandopadhyay had had his place in the sun. Yet he was a victim of an almost chronic depression. Police said he was on anti-depressants for nearly two months. Having enthralled three generations of Bengali music-lovers with his distinctive romantic lyrics, Bandopadhyay was finding it difficult over the past few years to churn out pop songs and cater to the demand of music companies and film producers. ?What obviously pained him was the fact that he was writing the songs which the artist in him never accepted. He would often say that many of the songs offend a lyricist?s fine feelings,?? his family members said. ?Kakamoni (uncle) was not well for the past few days. He told us on Tuesday evening that he was going out for a stroll. He never returned,?? nephew Amal Banerjee said. ?He was such a kind man and loved his family so much. His death is a great shock,? he added. Among Bandopadhyay?s hits are Koto din porey eley, ektu bosho and O aakash pradip jelona sung by Hemanta Mukhopadhyay, Lolita go oke aaj chole jetey bolna and Bharat amar bharatbarsha by Manna De.