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Calcutta, Jan. 24: A 28-year-old housewife described as happy with her marriage apparently strangled her five-year-old son tonight before hanging herself, police said.
No suicide note was found in the third-floor flat in Swinhoe Lane, Kasba, where well-to-do couple Swati and Dhritimay Dhar lived with son Riddhi, whom they affectionately called Babon.
“They seemed quite a happy family; we never noticed them quarrelling,” said Sukhdev Mustafi, who lives on the building’s fourth floor.
Dhritimay, a senior employee of a private pharmaceutical company, had been away when the deaths took place between 7pm and 8pm, officers said.
“We haven’t found a suicide note and are not ruling out any possibility,” said D.P. Singh, additional superintendent of police (industrial), South 24-Parganas.
“There was no sign of foul play in the flat. We’ll be examining some documents found at the spot. We are waiting for the post-mortem reports to ascertain the exact cause and time of death.”
Singh and the inspector in charge of Kasba police station, Samiran Ray, questioned domestic help Maya Halder till around 10.30pm.
Dhritimay had rung the doorbell for half an hour after returning home around 8pm. He had then borrowed a crowbar from local carpenter Ranjit Hazra and used it to break the door open.
“Moments later he ran out, almost hysterical, carrying the limp body of his son,” Mustafi said.
Riddhi was declared dead on arrival at the Ramakrishna Mission Seva Pratisthan. The neighbours informed the police around 9pm. Swati’s body was taken to M.R. Bangur Hospital.
The neighbours said the Dhars had been the first family to move into the building about six years ago. They kept to themselves and did not socialise with the other residents apart from the occasional nod or greeting.
Riddhi, an upper kindergarten student at a local school, was often seen playing about the building’s premises.
“A few months ago the family had taken a vacation in Gangtok. I believe Dhritimay had booked a larger flat nearby and planned to shift soon,” Mustafi said.
