Kharupetia (Darrang district): A daughter of professor-turned-lawyer Nirode Ba-ran Das, who committed suicide allegedly after being declared a foreigner, filed an FIR against an NRC seva kendra at Kharupetia on Tuesday.

Das took his own life on Sunday morning.

Civil society group members and the residents of Kharupetia are blaming Das’s death on his exclusion from the final draft National Register of Citizens (NRC).

Darrang deputy commissioner Ashok Barman told this correspondent that an inquiry has been initiated but ruled out exclusion from the draft NRC as the reason behind the suicide.

Kharupetia has so far reported two suicide cases, allegedly because of their names did not figure in the draft NRC.

The final draft of the NRC, published on July 30, excluded 40 lakh people.

“An inquiry over Das’s death was initiated a few days ago. But as of now it seems, prima facie, the suicide was not because of NRC as nothing was mentioned in the suicide note. There is a demand for an inquiry and we are looking into it. The reason may be personal,” said Barman.

Das’s family members blamed local NRC officials and the Local Registrar of Citizen Registration (LRCR) of no 38 NRC Seva Kendra for the death of the 69-year-old patriarch. They said Das was not served with any notice of being declared a foreigner.

Das got to know that he had been declared a foreigner when he visited the neighbouring seva kendra a few days after the publication of the final draft.

Though his name figured in the first draft, his family members did not. The opposite happened in the final draft.

His family said when Das asked for a receipt from the NRC officials, he was denied. “My father suffered agony over the past three months. We have filed an FIR against the LRCR of the seva kendra. He went to the foreigners tribunal and to the superintendent of police’s office to check whether his name was there. But it wasn’t. The culprit or the culprits should be punished,” said Nirupama, the daughter who filed the FIR.

Das had left behind a suicide note and the purported NRC notice, which had mentioned that he was declared a foreigner.

“Das was born in Tezpur in 1946. He studied here, became a teacher and then a professor of English. After he retired, he became a lawyer. He submitted legacies of 1966 and 1971. His name also appeared in the 2019 voter list. There is a feeling of great despair over his death,” said Ganesh Ghose, the vice-chairman of the Kharupetia town committee.