A 62-year-old non-teaching staff member of a private school in Dhakuria was found hanging in his home at Regent Park on Sunday morning amid allegations by his family that the fear of his Indian nationality being questioned and the possibility of being pushed back to Bangladesh drove him to end his life.

Dilip Kumar Saha, who was born in Bangladesh and moved to India between 1971-72, had been living with his family in a one-storey house at Purba Putiary in Regent Park for the past 40 years.

His family alleged that he had grown increasingly anxious in the recent months after reading reports and watching news related to the recent incidents of assaults on Bengali-speaking people in several states outside Bengal over doubts about their citizenship.

Saha, who did not have a birth certificate, was scared that he would be separated from his family and sent to a detention camp and eventually pushed back to Bangladesh, his family said.

“He used to read articles and watch the news about what is now happening. My husband often said he was worried because he did not have a birth certificate,” said his wife, Arati Saha, 56.

Tapashi, the daughter-in-law of the deceased, said that reports of Bengali-speaking people being detained in other states had left him deeply worried.

“When he heard that the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) had started in Bihar, he became even more nervous,” she said. In Bihar, many people are feared to have lost their voting rights after the SIR.

Saha’s wife, Arati, said he was also worried about being excluded from the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

Till now, Assam is the only state to have updated the NRC. The highly contentious NRC exercise in Assam had its origin in a political accord and a directive of the Supreme Court.

The final NRC, released on August 31, 2019, left out over 1.9 million people, leading to uncertainty over their citizenship.

A majority of them were Hindus.

While the list was published, the NRC process in Assam has remained effectively stalled. The Indian government has not announced any further steps regarding the excluded individuals.

The Assam government, led by chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, has contested the list, saying the number of excluded people should have been much higher.

While implementing the NRC in Assam, people whose names appeared on the 1951 NRC in Assam and the names of Indian citizens, including their descendants who moved to Assam after March 24, 1971, were considered. (They needed to furnish proof of residence in another part of the country as of March 24, 1971.)

People whose names appeared on any voter list in Assam up to March 24 midnight, 1971, were also added.

Also, people who came from Bangladesh between January 1, 1966, and March 24, 1971, and registered themselves with the Foreigner Regional Registration Office and were declared by the Foreigner Tribunal as Indian citizens, were considered.

The recent reports of alleged harassment of Bengali-speaking migrant workers in BJP-ruled states also bothered Saha, his family members said.

Many Bengali-speaking people, mostly from the informal sector, have allegedly been hounded by the police in these states. Some of them have alleged physical assault.

Last month, a notice was issued by the Assam Foreigners’ Tribunal to a Cooch Behar villager, Uttam Kumar Brajabasi. It was alleged that he was an illegal migrant who had entered the neighbouring state.

Referring to the notice, Mamata Banerjee had said: “This is nothing short of a systematic assault on democracy. It is proof that the ruling BJP dispensation in Assam is attempting to implement NRC in Bengal, where it holds no power or jurisdiction.”

Mamata had earlier red-flagged the Election Commission’s special intensive revision of electoral rolls in poll-bound Bihar, claiming the central poll panel was trying to bring NRC and disenfranchise voters.

She had also expressed apprehension that Bengal, which goes to the polls next year, was the BJP’s target.

Saha, who used to get up at 6.30am every morning, did not respond to knocks on his door. Later, the door was broken down. Saha was found hanging from the ceiling, police said.

Arati added that her husband had not been eating well for the past week. “His blood sugar level was high, and he was panicking,” she said.

Tapashi, the daughter-in-law, said he often expressed fear that he would be sent to a detention centre and separated from his family.

“We kept assuring him that he had all the necessary documents. But he was still worried that the absence of a birth certificate could lead to trouble,” she said.

Officers of Regent Park police station said they have found a purported note that held “no one responsible” for the death. An unnatural death case has been registered.

“We are planning to lodge a formal complaint. The details will be finalised only after the formalities are over,” said an elderly family member on Sunday afternoon, saying that they were waiting for the body.

State minister and local MLA Aroop Biswas visited the house and assured support for the bereaved family on Sunday evening.