Kolkata: In West Bengal’s Nadia district, an elderly man allegedly took his own life due to fear related to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise of the voter list being conducted by the Election Commission, police said on Monday.
The deceased has been identified as Sushanta Biswas, 60, from Matikumra Madhyapara under Dhantala police station in Ranaghat. He was employed in Kolkata. His family said he committed suicide at home on Monday morning by hanging himself.
According to relatives, Biswas had been living in fear since the SIR process began in the state. He was worried because his name was missing from the 2002 voter list. His fear intensified to the point that he stopped going outside. Despite neighbours’ attempts to reassure him, he grew increasingly depressed, fearing he might be removed from the voter list and forced to leave his home. A family member confirmed that he had filled out the enumeration form.
His wife, Namita Biswas, said, “He was always afraid. He had almost stopped talking. We tried to explain things to him, but he would only talk about the SIR. He would say, ‘If they take me to jail, I will get a six-year sentence.’ My mother-in-law’s name is on the 2002 list. Our names were removed because we were living away. This morning, I woke up to find him hanging with a towel around his neck.”
A senior officer of the Ranaghat Police District said, “The body has been recovered and sent for autopsy. It has been learnt that he died by suicide after living in fear for several days over his name not being on the 2002 voter list. A case has been registered and investigation is underway.”
This incident follows a similar case in the same district, where another person reportedly died by suicide a few days ago over alleged fear of the Election Commission’s SIR process.
With IANS inputs