A 54-year-old man allegedly slit his throat and died sitting at his lathe workshop in Haridevpur early on Saturday morning.
Tapan Dey, 54, a resident of Skylark Apartment at Keorapukur Mission MG Road in Haridevpur, was earlier a fitter in a tool-manufacturing company. He left the job in 2019 to start his own business at Chowk Ramnagar, police said. In a single-room tiled roof structure, he manufactured parts of machines — something he had learned from his earlier workplaces.
His family has told cops that Dey had plans to expand his business.
However, according to his family’s statement to the police, the business incurred huge losses during the pandemic, resulting in non-payment of Rs 2 lakh in GST.
“Dey apparently stopped getting any orders during the pandemic. His unit was shut down for a long period of time, first because of the lockdown restrictions and then for lack of orders. He took loans from people, which he had not been able to repay. He was depressed over the past few months, his family has told us,” an officer of Haridevpur police station said.
On Friday, Dey had left home at 8.30am like other days but when he did not return home by 10.30pm, his family was alarmed.
The police said Dey’s wife, a teacher in a local pre-primary school, had alerted their relatives who went to the workshop to check on him. They found him sitting inside the workshop, blood still oozing out of his throat. It was minutes past midnight then.
The police said a blood stained knife, his mobile phone and a purported note were found from the spot.
Dey was taken to Vidyasagar State General Hospital where he was declared dead.
“The body was sent for post-mortem. The doctor has given the opinion that the injuries on his throat are self-inflicted. We are examining the content of the note,” said a senior officer of the south west division.
His family told the police that he was an extremely hardworking and honest man who had tried his best to initiate a start-up on his own. But the pandemic killed off his business.
Unprecedented and tragic stories of struggle have emerged in the past year with the pandemic playing havoc on lives in various ways.
