Water grave for lonely old woman

KOLKATA: Loneliness and frustration of old age could have led an octogenarian to take her own life. The body of 86-year-old Tripti Acharya Choudhury was found, bloated and severely decomposed, floating in Rabindra Sarovar lake at 9.30 am on Tuesday.
No visible marks of injuries were found on her body and police suspect it to be case of a suicide. Lake police weren''t sure about the identity of the dead woman until they came upon a missing report filed with Alipore police station about a woman of similar description.
They said Tripti was a widow, her husband Jayanta Acharya Choudhury having died a few years ago.She stayed alone in her flat at New Alipore''s Block D and was extremely lonely.
Recently her only son left home to work in Guwahati and Tripti''s loneliness, police said, became more intense.
Police will make enquiries in the locality and have already summoned her son from Guwahati.
It was on Tuesday morning that locals spotted a body floating at Rabindra Sarovar lake. They informed Lake police who fished out Tripti''s body from the lake.
Lake police officials cited preliminary post mortem reports to rule out the possibility of murder. An officer said death was possibly due to drowning. "But whether or not she fell in by accident or there was foul play involved is yet to be determined," the officer added.
Deputy commissioner of police (Headquarters) Ranveer Kumar said an unnatural death case was lodged before the body was sent to Mominpore Morgue for post-mortem.
"The exact cause of death can only be known after the post mortem reports come in," Kumar said. Experts said it is not uncommon these days for old people to end their own lives.
Psychologist Paromita Mitra Bhowmick said cases of elderly people attempting suicide were on the rise in the city. She said the population of old people was on the rise as were their feelings of frustration due to loneliness.
"They have nothing to look forward to and feel left out and alienated," she said. Young people are not able to take proper care of their elderly relatives due to several reasons. "As a result elderly people lose the desire to live," she said.