Written by Anisha Ghosh

A 79-year-old woman was found dead and her husband injured in New Garia Co-operative Housing Society, Kolkata early on Friday morning, police said.

The Panchasayar police station received information at around 6:25 am that a woman was not responding from inside her bedroom despite repeated calls by their maid, identified as Madhumitha Haldar.

On rushing to the spot, police said they found Bijaya Das, wife of Prasanta Das, lying unconscious near the staircase of the residence with visible injuries on her head and face. The husband was found lying bound under the bed in a separate room near the cot, in a semi-conscious condition.

According to police, Haldar said that she found the back gate of the house open when she arrived in the morning to the flat where the couple lived alone. She also said that their son, Bandhan Das, resides in Mumbai with his family, officials said. Their daughter resides in Germany.

Das was rushed to NRS Medical College and Hospital, where doctors declared her dead at 9:35 am. Police have registered a case of unnatural death and said that a post-mortem examination will be conducted to ascertain the exact cause of death.

A local elderly resident said, “The environment here has turned into that of an old-age home. In most houses, only the elderly parents stay, while the sons and daughters live abroad. We came to know about it this morning. All of us are in a state of great fear.”

Another resident said, “This is the first time such an incident has happened in our cooperative. The security arrangements here are proper; there are street lights, and even CCTV cameras. This housing complex has almost turned into an old-age home now. There are more than five hundred plots here. Most of the sons and daughters of the houses stay outside.”

He added, “Such a major crime took place right next to the police station. We are truly terrified.”

Anisha Ghosh is an intern at The Indian Express