Couple found dead in Bengal; police suspect suicide due to debt burden

A preliminary investigation indicated that they died by suicide due to debt burden, police added.

“Relatives of the couple said during investigation that the man, a mason by profession, was under stress as he was unable to repay the loans he had taken from several places. His wife worked as a maid to help him,” said a local police officer, requesting anonymity.

“Local residents said that several men used to visit their house frequently to recover the loans. However, no suicide note was found near the bodies,” the officer added.

They are survived by four daughters. The eldest one is married while the younger ones are school students.

The incident happened days after a 40-year-old auto-rickshaw driver, his wife, and their 30-month-old ailing son were found dead at their home in Kolkata’s Kasba area on March 4, where police discovered that the man had taken loans for his son’s treatment.

A suicide note, blaming two relatives and three other people, was written on a wall of the room where the bodies were found.

“The man’s maternal uncle and his wife were arrested immediately as the deceased had blamed them for not letting him sell an ancestral property to clear the debts. Two days later, a man who works as a loan recovery agent for banks and private financial institutions was arrested. A second agent was arrested on Friday,” said a Kolkata police official.

“It is quite alarming that pressure created by loan recovery agents are pushing people to take such extreme steps. Courts have said banks cannot resort to such tactics to recover loans. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has clear guidelines on this,” one of the investigating officers in the Kabsa case said.

In another case, on February 28, the bodies of a 53-year-old trader and his 23-year-old autistic daughter were found inside the man’s rented shop in the Behala area of Kolkata.

“The man used to sell and repair water purifiers and kitchen chimneys. He is survived by his wife and a nine-year-old son. He had taken loans to take his daughter to Delhi and Chennai several times for treatment,” a police official said.

On February 18, Prasun Dey, a businessman, allegedly murdered his wife, his daughter and his elder brother Pranay Dey’s wife at the family’s residence in Kolkata’s Tangra area after the brothers suffered huge losses in their industrial gloves export business during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Hours after the murders, Prasun Dey, Pranay Dey and the latter’s minor son suffered injuries when their speeding car rammed into a pillar of the elevated Metro Railway tracks on EM Bypass in the early hours of February 19. All three were rushed to hospital.

Pranay Dey told the police that all six members of the family had made a suicide pact. He said they first consumed dessert laced with sedatives, but the attempt failed.

Prasun Dey was arrested after his discharge from hospital. He refused to have a lawyer and confessed to the crime in court.

In May 2023, the Patna high court said banks and finance companies cannot use recovery agents to forcefully seize vehicles of customers who defaulted on car loans. The judgment was passed by justice Rajeev Ranjan Prasad after hearings on multiple petitions.

In June 2023, a Madras high court division bench of chief justice S V Gangapurwala and justice P D Audikesavalu passed a similar order after hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) alleging that coercive methods were being used against farmers by banks and financial institutions.

“No muscle power can be exercised by the agents. If coercion is employed, then certainly the agriculturists will have every right to approach the police authorities,” the bench said.

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