A 38-year-old man who lost his job last year amidst the pandemic committed suicide, apparently unable to sustain his family with his income from supplying polythene bags to small shops.
The former sales executive of a pharmaceutical company, his wife and two children had been living with his in-laws as he could not afford a separate dwelling, police said. The couple’s son is 7 and daughter 3.
The police said Bhaskar Roy, a resident of BL Saha Road in Behala, was found hanging from the ceiling fan of a ground-floor room of his in-laws’ house, in the same neighbourhood, on Wednesday morning.
Roy, one of the three siblings, was the first graduate in his family and used to earn around Rs 20,000 a month till his services were terminated after the lockdown was imposed in March last year.
The pharmaceutical company had apparently promised to hire him back once the lockdown was lifted but never contacted him again, the police said.
“He failed to get a job in the past year and started supplying polythene bags to grocery stores for a living,” an officer said. He earned Rs 250-300 a day, the officer said.
Roy, who had purchased a Royal Enfield, rode a bicycle for the past year because he could not afford to buy fuel, his wife Rama told the police.
“He and his wife would roam around supplying polythene bags to grocery shops. On a good day they would earn Rs 300,” said an officer who has spoken to the bereaved family.
No suicide note was found, the police said.
“It appears Roy was finding it difficult to pay his son’s school fees and other expenses,” the officer said.
Like Roy, hundreds of people have lost jobs since the lockdown.
On Monday night, a 52-year-old homemaker in Sarsuna had committed suicide apparently unable to bear the stress of her son’s unemployment because of the lockdown and inadequate income of her husband, which was not enough to pay the house rent or sustain the family of three.