Three family members found dead in Kolkata were murdered, reveals post-mortem

The initial findings of the post-mortems by the Kolkata Police revealed that all three persons found dead in a house at east Kolkata’s Tangra were murdered. Representative image.

The initial findings of the post-mortems and preliminary investigations by the Kolkata Police on Thursday revealed that all three persons found dead in a house at east Kolkata’s Tangra were murdered. The women’s kinfolk, who met with a road accident the same day, are the prime suspects in the case. 

The findings of the post-mortem attributed the cause of death of Romi Dey (44) and Sudeshna Dey (39), to cut injuries ante-mortem in nature (injuries inflicted before their death). The injuries found on Romi and Sudeshna include cuts on their wrists and throats.

Romi’s 14-year-old daughter was found to have several bruises on her body, including on her chest, both legs, and lips. According to the post-mortem report, her death was caused by the effects of poisoning. 

Various speculations are afloat with regards to the cause of the three murders. Senior police officials said that a bounced cheque to one of their business partners as well as the lack of a suicide note at the crime scene has added to layers of complexity to the case.  

The car crash which severely injured the men of the family, including a teenage boy, has also added to the woes of finding the motive. One of the injured men informed the police about the three women’s bodies in their flats when police went and broke into their residence. 

Bodies of three persons – two adult women and a minor girl of the same family – were recovered from separate rooms in their house at 21/C Atal Sur Road in Kolkata’s Tangra area on Wednesday. Surprisingly, three male members of the same family were involved in a car accident earlier on Wednesday morning, with one of the victims informing local police that three female bodies were lying inside their house.

“It appears that on the night of February 17, all members of the family attempted to kill themselves . But that attempt was possibly unsuccessful,” a senior official of Kolkata Police said.

“Then the following day, the two adult women were killed with cut injuries inflicted with a paper cutter. The minor girl died from the effects of poisoning,” the police official added.

The paper cutter has been recovered by the police.

The time of death, according to the post-mortem, was pegged to approximately 36 to 48 hours before the post-mortem was conducted i.e. between Monday and Tuesday.

Police officials are currently examining CCTV footage to better understand the sequence of events in the early hours of Tuesday. CCTV footage from the scene has so far revealed that the three male members of the family – Prasun Dey, Pranay Dey, and his minor son Pratip – left the house in a car at around 12:52 a.m. on Wednesday. 

Sequence of events

Senior officials said all the three survivors were under the influence of sedatives. 

“The two adult men had decided to drop off the minor boy at a hospital before they took their own lives. They travelled in and around the city for roughly three hours, through Belghoria Expressway, Dunlop, Kona Expressway, Vidyasagar Setu, A.J.C. Bose Road Flyover, and Park Circus, convincing the boy to deboard at a hospital. But the boy refused,” they said.

Officials added that the three of them then got into a car accident — presumably on purpose — wherein the car crashed into a pillar near Avishikta Crossing on EM Bypass in East Kolkata at around 3:30 a.m. on Wednesday. They are currently under treatment at a private hospital in the city.

Neighbours present near the crime scene told The Hindu that the deceased were one of the most affluent family in the locality and had a family-run gloves business in the area with over 200 employees which was in operation till Tuesday. Their three storied house and a visit to their locality also suggested the same.

A neighbour said, “We knew nothing, this happened so late in the night. But there used to be a personal security guard in front of their house. Do not know what happened to him.”

A business partner who had come to visit the crime scene told the media that they used to supply raw materials to the family but stopped a year back after multiple payments failed to come through. He added, “Cheques started bouncing, payments scheduled for two months was taking six months, so we stopped supplying. I have almost 28-30 lakhs payment pending with the family.”

On Tuesday multiple calls from factory managers to the family had gone unanswered. Even the business partner said he visited their house on Tuesday evening to collect his payment, but the doors remained locked.

“We found that the family had taken loans worth multiple crores from six financial institutions and had kept their house on mortgage. Their accountant is currently being questioned,” Kolkata Police officials said.