Two women, teenage girl found dead at Tangra four-storey home were murdered: Cops
Telegraph | 22 February 2025
The two women and the teenage girl found dead at their four-storey Tangra home on Wednesday had been murdered, police said on Thursday.
However, the accounts of the two women’s husbands — who have suggested a family “suicide pact” gone wrong — leave many questions unanswered, officers said.
Class IX student Priyambada Dey, 14, who had multiple injuries and bruises, died of poisoning, according to the preliminary postmortem report, investigators said.
Romi Dey, 44, and Sudeshna Dey, 39, suffered multiple cuts and slashes, none of which prima facie appear self-inflicted, they added.
Romi, wife of Prasun Dey, had slashes on her wrists and a single cut on her throat, the police said. Sudeshna, wife of Prasun’s brother Pranay Dey, had deep cuts on her wrists and a single superficial cut on her throat. Her death was caused by haemorrhagic shock or excess bleeding, the police said.
A car crash on EM Bypass at 3.30am on Wednesday had left Prasun, Pranay and Pranay’s 14-year-old-son Pratip injured. Their accounts led to the discovery of the three bodies at their Tangra home.
The deaths apparently occurred 36 to 48 hours before the Thursday 1pm post-mortem, that is, between 1pm on Tuesday and 1am on Wednesday, police sources said.
Priyambada, daughter of Prasun and Romi, had multiple bruises, suggesting “a tussle” before she could be overpowered, which challenges the claim of a “suicide pact”, officers said.
“A scalp haematoma (a localised collection of blood) was found in the occipito-temporal region,” an officer said.
“Her palms and feet had turned bluish because of a lack of oxygen in the body. A small amount of partly digested food, yellowish and with whitish granules, that had a medicinal smell was found in her stomach.”
Prasun and Pranay — admitted to Ruby General Hospital along with Pratip – have claimed that all six family members ate payesh laced with a high dose of sedatives on Monday night, hoping to die, an officer said.
However, the brothers claimed that they woke on Tuesday to find that all six were still alive, he added. "We are trying to find out whether all the family members ate the poisoned dessert," the officer said.
He said the brothers had claimed that when they found their wives still asleep on Tuesday, they slashed and stabbed the women to ensure their death.
However, the police say they have found bloodstains at multiple places across the building, indicating “struggle”.
“The brothers said they had also attacked the boy (Pratip) with a knife but when he woke up, they decided to drop him at a hospital and commit suicide. Pratip apparently did not agree and wanted to accompany his father and uncle wherever they went,” the officer said.
The Dey brothers are said to have claimed that late on Tuesday night, the two men and the boy had climbed onto their terrace to end their lives by jumping off. Then they changed their mind and decided to take out the car and die some other way.
The Dey brothers have told the police they drove around for a while, from Belgharia Expressway to Kona Expressway, Vidyasagar Setu, AJC Bose Road, Park Circus seven-point crossing, Science City crossing and EM Bypass.
“These are the brothers’ claims, which are yet to be verified,” a senior officer said.
Police sources said they were analysing CCTV footage to verify the route thecar had taken between Atul Sur Road in Tangra and the Avishikta crossing on EM Bypass, which are just 6km apart.
CCTV footage shows they left the house at 12.51am on Wednesday, while the crash occurred more than three-and-a-half hours later.
The police are also unclear about the possible motive. “We have found the family had taken loans from six agencies. It came to a few crores. But it’s unclear whether the financial duress was that bad,” an officer said.
Prasun is being treated for a rib fracture while Pranay has a right acetabular (hip joint socket) fracture. Pratip underwent surgeries for fractures on his left humerus and right wrist on Wednesday. All three are in the ICU.