KOLKATA:
Subhabrata Majumdar, who had kept his mother’s body preserved in a freezer for last three years, is suffering from psychotic disorder and needs treatment, doctors who assessed him at the
Institute of Psychiatry (IOP) on Friday have concluded. On the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS), a tool used by the doctors to assess his mental condition, Majumdar scored a ‘very high’ 64. The cut-off score in
BPRS for a person who is mentally stable is 30 to 32.
“We found Subhabrata Majumdar suffering from delusion and hallucination. He is suspicious in nature as well. This indicates he is schizophrenic. That is why we have advised treatment for him in a specialized hospital,” IOP director Dr Pradip Saha told
TOI. He was sent to
Pavlov Hospital later in the day.
Saha was the head of the medical team that treated Partho De, who had also kept his sister’s body at home for months.
Using BPRS, doctors measure about 18 psychiatric symptoms, such as hallucination, depression, guilt, bizarre behaviour and disorientation. Depending on the total score, doctors decide if a person is suffering from any psychotic condition and how severe the ailment is. According to doctors, Majumdar’s symptoms are more severe than that of De’s.
A team of police brought Majumdar to the hospital around 1pm on Friday. Every time he was asked about his mother, he tried to avoid the question. Reluctant initially, he got talking after doctors requested the policemen to go out. Assisted by doctors
Soumadip Saha and N Rekha, the IOP director spent almost two hours with the patient.
“I asked him to vent out everything that was disturbing him from inside. I had to request the cops to step out as he had asked for it. I wanted to win his trust. He started opening up but was extremely guarded when it came to his family and personal life,” said Saha.
Majumdar preferred to answer all questions in English. He shot back with one line — ghure phire abar oi topic e (back to the same topic) — every time he was asked about his mother. “Initially he denied preserving his mother’s corpse. Later, he said she will live again once he gets a secret transcript that he is frantically looking for,” Saha told
TOI.
Speaking in crisp English, Majumdar also spoke of a “conspiracy by German and Russian consulates that would result in war and destruction”. He told doctors that he listens to conversations between the two consulates regularly and was worried what would happen to his mother if a war broke out. According to the doctors, he seemed least bothered about his father. When asked why he was still drawing his mother’s pension, he said he was tired of the same question and refused to answer.
“He is very intelligent, extremely guarded about his family and personal life. With correct line of treatment, his condition could be improved,” said Saha.
Like Partho De, doctors found Majumdar, too, had not taken much care about personal hygiene and food. However, he kept asking for food, tea and water in between his conversation with the doctors. He thanked doctors before he left the hospital a little before 3pm.
