KOLKATA: The midnight police raid at Behala’s S N Chatterjee Road that revealed the body of an elderly woman being preserved in an industrial freezer elicited much curiosity among residents of the area but they were not exactly shocked. After all, about a year and a half ago the neighbours suspected something “mysterious” was going on at the Majumdar house, located right on James Long Sarani behind the Gholsapur Railway Colony.
Bina Majumdar (84), who retired as a senior manager from
Food Corporation of India, died on April 7, 2015, following severe hypoglycaemia. The body was brought back to their home and all the neighbours saw a hearse arrive. But Bina’s son Subhabrata (46) or her husband Gopal Chandra Majumdar (89) did not ask anyone to visit the crematorium. No last rites were conducted either. Finally three years later, based on a tip-off, the police raided the house and discovered Bina’s body, covered in chemicals, being preserved in an industrial refrigerator. Organs like, intestines and the pancreas, had been removed so that the body did not rot. The innards were also preserved.
Ayear after the death, a relative of a domestic help at the Majumdars’ household sought an appointment with neighbours
Amar Guha and Ratna Chakraborty and told them about her suspicion of “a body being preserved inside two giant freezers, usually used for industrial work, on the ground floor”.
The Guhas and Chakrabortys live nearest to the Majumdars. “One thing kept following another. The Majumdars installed two two-tonne ACs on the ground floor though no one lived there. The father and the son lived on the first floor. In fact, we asked Gopal why he needed two ACs in one room. He claimed they were for his son’s leather business. Subhabrata dodged our queries,” Guha said.
“We shortly heard that tonnes of chemicals in jars were being brought into the house. Later, we came to know it was primarily formalin,” said Chakraborty. “Once, I was talking with some neighbours how Gopal, an elderly man was being forced to live alone, as Subhabrata returned home at night with some food only to leave after inspecting the ground floor. The neighbours then pointed out how we all saw Bina’s body being brought back home from Behala Balananda Brahmachari Hospital but no last rites were conducted. No neighbour was even allowed to accompany them to the crematorium.” Gopal told the Chakrabortys that the cremation was a private affair. “I was taken aback as immediately after Bina’s death, Gopal had told me their son could not reconcile to the news of his mother’s death and that they had kept her body at Peace Haven. They said they would cremate her once he calmed down,” said Chakraborty.
The neighbours recalled the father-son using all their resources to save Bina. “About two decades ago, Gopal and Bina would boast of the most well-maintained house in the neighbourhood. They had retired from senior positions at
FCI and had enough money. Their son worked at Bantala Leather Complex but quit to try out various businesses. He even dabbled in car business. When Bina fell ill, the family took her to top hospitals in Kolkata and even travelled to Vellore. The day she died, they were upset when their family doctor declared her condition was serious. Subhabrata had said he would go to any extent to bring her back,” said another neighbour, Chanchal Chakraborty.
But the neighbours said they were disturbed that Subhabrata had taken the help of ‘doms’ to remove certain organs from Bina’s body to preserve it better. “On one hand, you are claiming you love your mother so much you cannot let her go, but on the other, you are ripping her body apart. He did not even let his mother die in peace,” said
Swati Sarkar, a resident.
