The Kalakar Street spot (circled in red) where Amit and Ishika Haritwal fell. Picture by Amit Datta

A father who rushed to save his 12-year-old daughter from falling off the tiled roof plunged to death along with the girl on Tuesday.

Ishika Haritwal, a student at Sarada Siksha Sadan, had climbed to the roof of a five-storeyed house on Kalakar Street to hang clothes out to dry. Her father, Amit, 47, spotted her standing precariously and rushed to her aid.

The Haritwals — Amit, a casual worker at CESC, wife Rina, their four children, Ishika being the eldest, and Amit’s father Kali Prasad — live in four small rooms on the top floor of the building. The building, which houses at least 10 families, does not have a terrace and residents often climb to the tiled roof to hang clothes out to dry.

“The girl had used a wooden ladder to reach the roof to dry clothes. Her father saw her leaning downwards and rushed to save her but both of them lost balance and fell,” said a senior officer of Posta police station.

The incident happened around 2.30pm, a few minutes after Amit had returned home for lunch. His wife was in the kitchen and Ishika’s three siblings — Ishaan, 11, Utsav, 7 and Tanmoy, 3 — were watching television.

The neighbours heard a loud thud and rushed out to find father and daughter lying on the road, faces downwards.

“I saw a man lying on a tyre and a girl on the road, a few feet away,” said a resident of the second floor. “It was much later that we realised the girl was Ishika and the man her father.”

The two were taken to Vishuddhananda Hospital, where they were declared dead. Both bodies were sent for post-mortem. Police said Ishika had suffered serious head injuries but there were no injury marks on Amit.

Arrested

A couple — Shibu and Moni Pal — were arrested in Howrah’s Liluah on Tuesday on the charge of murdering neighbour Sanjoy Roy. Police said the Pals had thought that Sanjoy had stolen a gold chain.