Four members of a family were found dead at a locked flat under mysterious circumstances at Kankurgachhi in Manicktala, in Kolkata, on Monday. The flat, situated at the ground floor of the four-storeyed VRS Estate quarters in CIT Scheme, was bolted from inside for over 24 hours, according to preliminary investigations.
The body of Prabin Das, the 40-year-old head of the family, was hanging from the ceiling with a rope tied around his neck. His wife Sandhya, 32, was lying dead on the bed. The bodies of their teenaged son Prashanta, a Class 9 student and 12-year-old daughter Dipshikha, a Class 5 student, were lying in a pool of blood near the door and bed respectively. Sandhya, Prashanta and Dipshikha had suffered deep head injuries. Rice was found in Prashanta’s mouth, official sources said.
Prabin first killed his wife and two children by hitting their head with a shovel and then ended his life by hanging himself, revealed a senior officer of the Manicktala police station. The blood-soaked shovel was recovered by the police.
Locals disclosed that Prabin had turned suspicious about Sandhya ever since she started working as a maid to help the family come out of its financial crisis. He often quarrelled with her, one of them added.