Live-in partner detained after caregiver's death

KOLKATA: A 40-year-old woman, a caregiver, was found dead in her rented accommodation in Uttar Purbachal on Wednesday morning.

Manju Dey was found dead by her landlord who had gone to switch on the water pump near her room. Cops said only the final postmortem report will help ascertain if Dey - who was in a live-in relationship for the past 18 months and was residing there - had killed herself or was murdered. Locals claimed the couple had moved into the neighbourhood together and introduced themselves as husband and wife. Her partner Bappa Dey is a mid-level employee of a pharma firm in Kolkata. Dey has been detained for questioning. He said he was not home when the woman died.

"Dey has claimed that he was informed by the victim's eldest son to return home quickly as his mother had hanged herself. He also claimed he had brought down the body of his wife and had left to inform police. We are verifying his statements. If required, he will be asked to record his statement in front of the victim's son," a police source said.

Dey also claimed that five strips of sleeping pills were found next to the woman.

According to DC (Jadavpur) Bidisha Kalita, the victim has two sons - aged 20 and 18 - who live with her husband's family in South 24 Parganas.

According to landlord Nityananda Sarkar, he had not noticed the victim for the past few days. "On Wednesday morning, I tried to access the common verandah overlooking her window to switch on the pump. The grille was partially shut and I opened it to find her lying on her back on the floor," Sarkar told cops.

"She carries certain injuries on her forehead. So far, we have also not recovered any suicide note. We are going through her call details and that of her partner, and will talk to her estranged husband. We are also ascertaining if she had any issues with her employers," said an officer.