Santanu Bose

A 22-year-old rock singer drowned on Monday evening in a Santoshpur pond while taking a dip with his bandmates. His father on Tuesday filed an FIR alleging “foul play” and hinting at intra-band rivalry.

Santanu Bose left his EB 332 residence in Salt Lake at 9.30am on Monday to check out a place in Santoshpur the members of his new band had rented and were sound-proofing. He never returned home.

The history graduate from Jaipuria College who had left the band Karmic Influence a few weeks ago, drowned in a pond in front of their Santoshpur practice pad on Monday evening.

Two of his band members — singer and guitarist Suman Chatterjee and drummer Subhajit Dasgupta — were with him.

Debabrata Bose, a central government employee, filed an FIR against Suman and Subhajit at the East Jadavpur police station on Tuesday, alleging foul play.

“My son couldn’t swim and he would never go into the water. His bandmates said he had decided to take a dip but I can’t believe that,” he told Metro.

“We fear there was some rivalry between Santanu and his bandmates,” added a family member.

Police said the preliminary post-mortem report indicated that it was a case of drowning. There was mud in his foodpipe, food in his stomach and no trace of any toxic element.

“We are investigating the complaint filed by Santanu’s father. It looks like death due to drowning but we are covering all the angles,” said the investigating officer.

According to Santanu’s family, he arrived at the Santoshpur address around 11am on Monday along with a bandmate, Saikat, who left after depositing some instruments.

Santanu, Suman and Subhajit spent the afternoon in the house, ordering in momos from a nearby shop. They emerged around 4pm and headed for the pond. Suman sat on the bank while Subhajit went in and Santanu apparently waded into the shallow part.

“Subhajit told us that Santanu suddenly slipped and went under. When he lunged forward to try and save him, Santanu nearly dragged him in. Subhajit then freed himself and clambered to safety,” said a relative of Santanu.

According to the police, Subhajit and Suman shouted for help but by the time help arrived it was too late.

“We rushed him to MR Bangur Hospital where he was declared dead on arrival,” said an official of the East Jadavpur police station.