Kolkata: Jadavpur University pro-VC found hanging at Regent Park home

KOLKATA: Samantak Das, pro-vice-chancellor of Jadavpur University, was found hanging at his Regent Park Government Estate home around 2.30pm on Wednesday. The 57-year-old senior academic was taken to MR Bangur Hospital, where he was declared dead. No suicide note has yet been found but preliminary investigations have ruled out foul play.
JU will remain closed on Thursday in his memory. On Thursday, Das's body will be taken to the university, where he studied and later, returned to teach.
JU VC Suranjan Das with other officials and professors at MR Bangur Hospital
Police said Das was found hanging from the ceiling fan with a white cloth belt at his home, where he lived with his mother. It was around 1.30pm, when his domestic help, on finding his room locked from inside, knocked on the door, but he did not open it, police said. When Das did not respond despite the help calling him repeatedly, she alerted the family, who in turn, called the police. "We broke open the door and found him hanging. Prima facie, no foul play could be detected. No complaint has been received. His JU colleagues told us he had spoken to them even on Tuesday night and had expressed concerns about his health," said an officer. Hospital sources said he was brought dead. A post-mortem and a magisterial inquest were conducted.
Das is survived by his aged mother, wife, two daughters and a son.
"This is a personal loss to me. This is a huge loss to JU and the academic world," said JU VC Suranjan Das. "After I joined JU, among the few people with whom I could develop an immediate friendship was Samantak. I always received help and guidance from him in academic and administrative matters. Without him, it would be very lonely at JU." Partha Pratim Ray, JUTA general secretary, said, "We are devastated to lose a colleague, a friend, an outstanding teacher and an amazing human being."
The news of his death came as a shock not only to his colleagues, but also his teachers, students, former students and the academic fraternity. Das, on passing out of La Martiniere for Boys, took admission to the JU English department in 1984. He graduated in 1987 and completed his post-graduation in 1990. Das started teaching in the department of English and other Modern European Languages at Visva-Bharati in 1991 and continued till 2005. He finished his PhD from JU in 2004 and in 2005, returned to the university to teach at the comparative literature department. Currently, he was the director of School of Cultural Texts and Records at JU.
"Samantak da", as he was fondly called by his students, was immensely popular across the university. Sujit Kumar Mandal, HoD, comparative literature, said, "Samantak da worked tirelessly for the upliftment of rural women and daily wage-earners in Birbhum, Burdwan and Sunderbans. His untimely demise will create a void in this space." State education minister Bratya Basu called VC Das to seek details and asked him to get in touch in case of any problem.