"Good Bye Partho, May God Bless you and help you. Love - Baba"

That is how Arabindo De's alleged suicide note ended but 48 hours before he was found burnt to death in his Robinson Street house, the 75-year-old had visited a solicitor friend to discuss how "both his children" would cope when he was no longer around.

Not once did he give solicitor Subir Majumdar any indication that his daughter Debjani was no more. But his farewell note is addressed only to son Partho.

Arabindo's visit to the Bose & Mitra & Co office near Calcutta High Court was not a rare one. He had met Majumdar, a senior partner, in his chamber at least a dozen times since October 2014, mostly to discuss ways to sell his Robinson Street home.

But the last visit was for a different reason.

"He came to this office on June 8 and said that he feared that his children, Partho and Debjani, would not be able to look after themselves when he was no longer around. Initially he asked me to take the power of attorney for his property. I said in his absence, even the power of attorney would be null and void, so I suggested that he create a trust in his children's name instead," Majumdar told Metro on Friday, at his Old Post Office Street office.

Two days later, Arabindo was found dead in the bathtub of his bathroom at home. With the bathroom door locked from inside and a suicide note being found, police are almost certain that he had committed suicide.

Cops met Majumdar on Friday seeking details of his acquaintance with Arabindo. "We are a little surprised that Arabindo had referred to both his children even on his last visit to his solicitor. We would have to ascertain whether he had come to know of Debjani's death only in the last few days and whether something had transpired between the time he last visited his solicitor and when he committed suicide," said an investigator.

According to septuagenarian Majumdar, Arabindo wanted to sell the Robinson Street property and buy a flat. And in this he was on the same page as his younger brother Arun, who lived in an adjoining wing at the same address. Arabindo and Arun were hardly on talking terms for years.

"He and his brother had reconciled after their mother's death late last year. They both wanted to sell the property," Majumdar said.

The 23-cottah property on Robinson Street that Arabindo and Arun's father Gadadhar De had bought around 80 years ago, was left in the custody of a trust with his wife Santi Devi as the trustee in 1959, according to legal documents accessed by Metro.

Santi Devi lived with Arun while Arabindo spent most of his worklife outside Calcutta and returned to his ancestral home after retirement from Alfred Herbert India Ltd, an industrial machinery manufacturing company, in 1989. At first, Arabindo lived with wife Arati and daughter Debjani. Arati died of cancer in 2005 and a couple of years after his mother's death, Partho left his job in the US and came back to the city.

"By the time he and his family returned, parts of the property had been rented out to four tenants by his brother for a mere Rs 600-700 a month each. Arabindo was not given his share of the rent and he had moved court against his mother and brother in 2008," Majumdar recalled.

The judgment in 2010 went in favour of Arabindo, putting an injunction on his relatives letting out the property to tenants in future.

It was during these two years that Majumdar grew close to Arabindo and his children. "Partho and Debjani would often visit this office and sort out legal documents. She was an intelligent woman and Partho, I remember, was extremely handsome. What I saw of him on TV on Thursday doesn't match with the young man who used to come to meet me," said the solicitor.

Majumdar had not seen Debjani for years but would often hear about her from her proud father, especially about her singing skills.

"He adored her. He would keep telling me things about her... how she sang and how Partho would never tire of recording her voice," said Majumdar.

Arabindo had discussed Debjani and her music a number of times even in the past six months, when she was actually dead and her remains were in her brother's room.

Arabindo and Majumdar, both in the same age bracket, had become friends over the years. They often exchanged gifts. Arabindo would give Majumdar "spiritual books and CDs". A few weeks ago, the solicitor had brought a box of tobacco from Myanmar for Arabindo, which he picked up from the chamber.

"He would come to my office in a blue T-shirt. He was a thorough gentleman and would always make an appointment before visiting me. He was very punctual. The only time I can remember him being late was on June 8," said Majumdar.

In 2014, Arabindo approached the solicitor to help him and his brother sell the property, prompting Majumdar to visit the Robinson Street address himself.

"I went to the premises sometime in October last year to assess it. They were looking for a suitable buyer. Many people had been visiting that house since then and surprisingly, no one ever felt anything was amiss," he added.

Some of Arabindo's acquaintances said till a few years back he used to play golf at Tollygunge Club and drop into Calcutta Club too.

"Of late whenever we would call up Arabindo, Partho would take the call and either say that his father was not around or in the bathroom or that he was asleep. So we never managed to get through to Arabindo," said a member of Tollygunge Club who once used to play golf with Arabindo quite regularly.