123 Kolkata: Chandramouli Biswas, a popular bassist associated with bands like Fossils, Golok, and Zombie Cage Control, was found hanging at his rented home on Indian Mirror Street near Wellington in central Kolkata on Sunday evening.
Biswas (48), is survived by his elderly parents who were away attending an invitation when the incident occurred. One of his current band members, Mohul Chakraborty, found him hanging and alerted locals and the police when he came to meet him at his home on Sunday.
"Biswas was not taking my calls since morning, and I became worried for him. I called up one of his close friends and both of us reached his home to check on him when we found him dead. It's a big loss for the entire Bengal music industry," said Chakraborty, the lead vocalist of the music band Golok.
Born on June 5, 1976, Biswas quit a promising career in engineering just to pursue music. By late evening, news of his death reached Fossils.
"He was with Fossils from 2000 to 2018. He joined as a guitarist and later became the band's bassist. At one point, Rupam declared he wouldn't continue with Fossils without Chandra. In 2018, Chandra left the band due to health issues. Chandra has a huge fan following among the young crowd, and it is shocking that he died so soon. Apart from being a terrific musician, he was remarkably cheerful and socialised with people from all walks of life. A brilliant student and engineer from JU, he left everything just to do music," said Rupsha Dasgupta, the manager of Fossils.
The band members of Fossils received the news of his untimely demise while en route to Kalyani for a show. "Chandra performed with us there for over 15 years. He was a crucial member of the band. I spoke to Allen. Rupam and the other members of the band are devastated. We don't know how the band will perform after hearing this news," Dasgupta added.
The police said initial investigation revealed Biswas was suffering from depression for some years as he was not earning much. "We have spoken to his relatives and friends who said he was depressed for some years and was also under treatment," said an officer. The officer added they found a suicide note that said no one is responsible for his death.
Cops said they have sent the body for post-mortem and are also checking the handwriting on the note.
On Sunday afternoon, Biswas had updated his profile photo on Facebook. Compliments from his friends, fans, and well-wishers poured in as soon as the new photo was up.
Among them were musicians like Bony Debtanu Deb and her relatives. "Bohu din bade sei purono Chandra da k pelum (After many days, here we have that old Chandra da)," Deb posted minutes after the photo was changed. Hrishita Rakshit, one of her relatives, later posted: "Jekhanei thako bhalo theko (stay well wherever you are)."