Tags:
Journalism of Courage
The wife of a Kingfisher Airlines technician committed suicide in southwest Delhi Thursday afternoon,leaving behind a note saying her husband had not been paid for five months,and she could no longer cope with their situation.
The womans husband,who took up the Kingfisher job after retiring from the Air Force a year ago,is learnt to have told police that his wife had been depressed for several months.
Forty-five-year-old Sushmita Chakraborty was found hanging by a dhoti from the ceiling fan in her bedroom by her husband Manas and some neighbours who entered the couples first floor DDA flat in Manglapuris A block,Pocket 13 after breaking open the balcony door,a senior police officer said.
Manas called Sushmita from work on their home phone around 1 pm. When she didnt respond,he called some neighbours and asked them to look her up. After she failed to answer the doorbell,he came back home, the officer said.
A neighbour called PCR at 1.25 pm. Investigators found the alleged suicide note,written in Bengali over half a page,in a diary.
Additional Commissioner of Police (South West) A K Ojha said,She has mentioned that her husband works for Kingfisher and that he hasnt been paid his salary for the past four to five months. She said she was unable to cope with the situation.
A neighbour who claimed to have seen the alleged suicide note said Sushmita wrote she was afraid the company would shut down and her husband would lose his job.
The Chakravartys have been living here for the past 8-10 years. They own the flat. Sushmita was friendly,and most people in the neighbourhood knew her. She had come over to collect donations for Durga Puja only two days ago, another neighbour said.
The couples 18-year-old son is a student of B.Tech in Assam. Police said they did not suspect foul play,and had initiated inquest proceedings under section 174 CrPc (suicide).
Late in the evening,around 100 Kingfisher employees marched with candles in Mumbai to protest Sushmitas death,PTI reported. We have taken out this march to condole the untimely death of our colleagues wife,who committed suicide due to financial stress. We strongly condemn the agony the airline management has given to us by not paying salaries for the past seven months, Captain Yatin Pandit,one of the organisers,said.
