Face wrapped, Jadavpur University girl found hanging

KOLKATA: A 25-year-old Jadavpur University post-graduation student was found hanging from the ceiling fan in her room at their fourstorey house at Baghajatin on Sunday morning. Hanging right in front of a mirror, Sukanya Podder had her face covered with a black stole.

A suicide note, which she ostensibly left behind on a table, stated no one was responsible for her death. The police are yet to confirm but initial probe suggests Podder committed suicide. The body has been sent for post-mortem.

The police suggested the woman had possibly put a stool on her bed facing the mirror, stood on it and checked in the mirror that the noose had been tied properly. “But looking at herself in the mirror, she possibly got scared. So, she possibly wrapped a stole around her face before climbing on the stool for the final time, put the noose on and kicked the stool away,” said an officer from the Jadavpur police station. Even psychiatrists were stumped by the use of the cloth. “There could be two reasons. First, as she could see herself in the mirror committing the act, at one point, she might have felt she could not go ahead with it. But with her suicidal intent overriding her feelings, she put the black cloth to avoid seeing herself. The second reason can be she wanted to accomplish a sense of completion of the suicidal act and so, she put the black cloth around her face, like executioners do before hanging someone,” said consultant psychiatrist Siladitya Roy.

Relatives said Sukanya had her breakfast on Sunday before locking herself in her room on the second floor around 9am. It was around 11.30am that her brother, who was in Class XII, broke the door latch and found her hanging. Their mother, Sikha, and ailing grandmother were also at the house, which they shared with other relatives on different floors. Sukanya’s father, Tamal, who ran a travel and tourism business, was away in Kalimpong.

“She was such an energetic girl. She was like my daughter and I had to bring down her body,” said Bapi Chowdhury, a relative.

“A guest lecturer at Lady Brabourne, she was a meritorious student and wanted to pursue a career in academics. We have no clue what led her to take such a drastic step,” said another relative.

Cops have seized her mobile and laptop and recorded her relatives’ statements. “The woman was in a relationship and her family was in good terms with the man. We are probing whether the two had had any problem. We haven’t received any complaint,” said the officer.