Aug. 31: A BPO employee was found dead on a 10th-floor balcony of Godrej Waterside in Sector V late last night.

Avishek Bauri, 25, an employee of Met Technologies Pvt Ltd, possibly fell off the 13th-floor fire refuge area, where employees often step out for a smoke, police said. His body was found sprawled on the fire assembly balcony on the 10th floor of the building.

Tower II of Godrej Waterside, where Avishek's office is located, comprises 18 storeys apart from the lower and upper basements that are used for parking vehicles and a ground floor with a common lobby.

The building has a glass façade and elongated fire assembly points with low walls on the seventh, 10th, 13th and 16th floors.

An architect who has his office in New Town said fire refuge areas of high-rise buildings are designed in such a way that people can stand and wait for rescuers to evacuate them. The refuge areas are designed with low guard walls so that firefighters have easy access to those standing on the platform, the architect said.

The body was spotted by several employees, who alerted police, an officer of the Electronics Complex police station said. "Employees who work on the upper floors often use the fire refuge area to smoke as the entire building, apart from the open areas, is centrally air-conditioned and a no-smoking zone," said the officer.

A forensic team visited the building and examined the 13th-floor refuge area as well as the 10th-floor balcony where Avishek's body had landed.

The body has been sent for post-mortem. "There are multiple injuries on the body. There was a lot of blood loss from a head injury," said a doctor who examined the body.

An officer of the Bidhannagar commissionerate said it was not yet clear whether the fall was suicidal, accidental or homicidal in nature.

Avishek's brother Vivek lodged a murder complaint with the Electronics Complex police station today. He has alleged that unknown persons pushed his brother off the balcony. The complaint states that Avishek was not a smoker and hence it was not clear why he would step out in the fire refuge area.