An 87-year-old man who was confined to his room for a few days as others in the family had tested positive for Covid, fell off his apartment's second-floor balcony while allegedly trying to climb down a getaway rope he had made with clothes.

On Hazra Road around 9.30am, neighbours and onlookers shouted and tried to stop the elderly man when they saw him cross the balcony railing and hang from the rope.

The man lost his grip on the rope and fell on a car parked below, police said. He suffered head injuries and was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was declared dead.

His son, who is quarantined at home along with his wife, told Metro that he was too unwell to speak, especially after the tragedy.

The elderly man lived with his son and daughter-in-law, both of whom tested positive for Covid a few days ago. His daughters live in Ahmedabad and the US, the police said.

Like most elderly people whose movements have been restricted by their families to protect them from the coronavirus, the victim was confined in the apartment for several weeks. Restrictions were further increased when his son and daughter-in-law contracted the disease, a police officer said.

The building is located on the busy Hazra Road and has a car showroom on the ground floor. The remaining four storeys have residential apartments. The police said he had landed on a car breaking a rear view mirror of the vehicle.

The family has purportedly told officers of Rabindra Sarobar police station that around 7.30am last Thursday, the elderly man had sneaked out of his room and tried to leave home for a haircut. He was stopped and asked to get back into his room.

“The victim’s family was trying to protect him by keeping him confined in his room, especially because two members in the family were infected. He was given the only room that had a balcony so that he would feel better,” said an officer of the police station.

The police said they were certain that this was not a case of suicide but an attempt to escape the captivity.

The tragic incident is another grim reminder of how the coronavirus has affected lives, so much so that the son of a deceased person could neither step out of the home to take care of his injured father nor perform his last rites.

The victim’s son sent an authorisation letter through phone to one of his cousins, who took the elderly man to the hospital and then arranged for his last rites, the police said.

Hundreds of elderly people are feeling suffocated because of restrictions on movement that have been necessitated by Covid-19, said a police officer who interacts with members of Pronam in south Calcutta.

Pronam is a wing of community policing in Calcutta that looks after elderly people living alone.

“Elderly people feel extremely lonely and anxious, especially when they are stopped from going out for their regular walk. That is the only time when they get to meet their friends,” an officer said.