THOSE WERE THE DAYS: Shibendu and Swati on their wedding night. Swati’s parents do not recall their daughter or son-in-law ever complaining of any trouble, financial or otherwise. Picture by Pabitra Das

“When the SMS came, I thought something had happened to my father. Baba had had two heart attacks, so my first thought was that something had happened to him. I tried to call home, but there was no response. Pore janlam, ora keu nei… keu nei (Later, I learnt that there was no one left),” recounts Jayashree Saha, dissolving into tears as the memories of sordid Sunday came rushing back.

On Tuesday morning, the only daughter of Nabendu Saha performed a puja for the family that was wiped out within hours on the night of July 17.

The puja at the Beleghata home started around 10 am and was attended by over 50 relatives, including those on Jayashree’s maternal side, Shibendu’s friends and several other members of the joint family.

The daughter of Nabendu and Anubha Saha was, however, in no condition to sit through the daylong proceedings. “My kakas (uncles) will perform a chaturthi puja tomorrow, by the Ganga,” she said, before retiring to another room with her infant son, waiting for her daughter to return from school.

In the drawing-cum-dining room, four Brahmins sat on the floor with the puja offerings spread out, while the relatives occupied an adjoining room.

On the third day after the six killings and a suicide, Jayashree was struggling to come to terms with the tragedy. In her bedroom, clutching on to her 18-month-old son, she insisted that there was nothing amiss when she left 91/3C, Tollygunge Road, on Saturday night.

“Baba patted me tenderly on the head and ma said I should visit them again soon. Bhai (Krishnendu) was as jovial as usual. He carried my son to the car while seeing me off. I had left my doctor’s file back upstairs and it was he who pointed it out to me and went upstairs to fetch it.”

What about the financial crisis referred to in Shibendu’s suicide note? The family had seen far worse times before, observed Jayashree.

“When I was in Class IV, the bakery was shut for a whole year… I knew dada’s (Shibendu’s) business wasn’t doing well for the past two years. He used to tell me sometimes ‘I have two small children. Janina ki kore ki korbo (I don’t know what to do)’. But had the situation been hopeless, I would have known,” she insisted.

Jayashree also had no inkling of the role played by her uncle Amalendu and aunt Anita in the tragedy: “We were brought up in a joint family, which later split… When we were growing up, we never thought of them as different from our parents.”

Jayashree’s husband Biswajit added: “The financial situation couldn’t have been so bad. After all, the loan for Rs 9 lakh from UCO Bank was taken against a security of a plot nearby, which is worth at least Rs 20 lakh.”