Kolkata: The statements of the Dey brothers from Tangra converged on multiple aspects — from planning the suicide pact on Feb 10 to the final plan to kill themselves by orchestrating an accident in the early hours of Feb 19. Yet, they contradicted each other when it came to explaining the sequence of events that played out in the morning of Feb 18, when the three women of the house were found dead, with the post-mortem indicating murder.
The statements, as accessed by TOI, show elder brother Pranay Dey remaining vague on that day's sequence of events. Pranay claimed he was unsure of who was the first to die. According to him, when the family retired for the night, Pranay went to his room along with his wife Sudesna and son Pratip. Prasun and Romi went to theirs room while their daughter, Priyamvada, retired to a third room to study. Pranay woke up the next morning to realise that Romi and Pratip were alive, though sedated. He went to the washroom where Prasun met him. Prasun told him that Priyamvada was frothing. The two went to Priyamvada's room and saw her choking and desperately trying to breathe.
Prasun, on the other hand, claimed that he was not aware of how his wife Romi or his sister-in-law Sudesna lost their lives. He claimed his daughter, Priyamvada, was already dead when he woke up in the morning.
The only point where the two brothers converge on the events unfolding on Feb 18 was that it was Prasun who slashed at the wrist of the minor boy and that of his own. "Priyamvada was using a pen knife to cut thermocol for a school project. The same knife was used for this purpose," a source said. Police confirmed that Pranay was not above suspicion since he is the only one who doesn't have any cut injuries. "He conveniently forgets the morning events but remembers that it was Prasun who cut his boy's wrist," said an officer.
"Their versions require further clarification as they vastly differ. But for that, we will need further expert opinion. Unless we are clear on that, we cannot state the specific role of each of the brothers," said commissioner Manoj Verma. Verma, though, said the police "were pretty sure" that "only these two brothers" were involved in the incident, with the motive "strongly related to the losses suffered in their business". The two primary jobs now were to find safe custody of the child and to ensure that there is no further damage inflicted on him, added Verma.
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