Trying to rescue pet cat, Kolkata woman falls 8 floors to death

KOLKATA: A 33-year-old Kolkata woman trying to rescue her pet kitten from the narrow concrete awning on the top floor of an apartment building in the city's Tollygunge neighbourhood slipped and fell eight floors to her death early Monday, just over a month after moving into her rented home.

Anjana Das's blood-splattered body was found in the crevice between two buildings along Lake Avenue Road around 8am, shortly after residents and security guards heard a loud thud. She was declared brought dead to a nearby hospital. The kitten she had tried to rescue was brought down unharmed from the awning.

Neighbours of the deceased in the apartment block on 70, Lake Avenue Road, said she had been looking for her missing kitten since the previous evening before spotting the pet perched on the awning.

At least one resident reported seeing Anjana, whose apartment is on the first floor, taking off her footwear and trying to reach the awning from the terrace, police said.

A cat she had adopted a month and a half ago gave birth to a litter of three around a couple of weeks ago.

Anjana lived in the apartment building with her elderly mother. "Their ancestral property on Sarat Bose Road is undergoing renovation, and the promoter arranged for them to move here for 11 months," a neighbour said.

Joint commissioner of police (crime and organisation) Syed Waquar Raza said there was no indication of foul play in the woman's tragic death.