A man and his 22-year-old autistic daughter were found dead at his office in Kolkata’s Shakuntala Park area under Parnasree police station limits late on Friday evening.

According to police sources, Swajan Das, 53, who ran a water purifier and chimney business, was last seen entering his office on Friday with his daughter Sreeja Das. It is suspected that Das killed his daughter before dying by suicide but the police are awaiting the post-mortem report before arriving at a conclusion.

Das had informed his wife that he was taking his daughter to SSKM Hospital for her treatment, police sources said, adding that as per the office staff, he had asked them not to go to the office – located on the ground floor of a house – on Friday.

When Das and Sreeja did not return home by late evening, and repeated calls by his wife and friends went unanswered, some of his friends went to the office, the sources added. There, they saw that the air conditioner was running and all the windows were shut. Getting no response from inside, they broke the door open along with local residents, and saw the two bodies.

Later, the police took the bodies for post-mortem. The homicide branch of Lal Bazar police also visited the spot.

Meanwhile, the family has reportedly informed the police that Das had travelled to Bengaluru for Sreeja’s treatment, but saw no improvement.

The police are said to have ruled out the possibility of financial constraint leading to the incident after Dilip Kumar Mitra, who owns the house from which Das ran his business, said he always paid the rent on time.

Speaking to reporters, Mitra said, “We are very shocked… Swajan Das had rented the ground floor of our house for his office purposes and he always paid the rent on time. He had rented the property for the last three years. He was liked by the neighbours also… He rarely brought his daughter but we would always enquire about her treatment and he would say that the treatment is going on.”