Behala temple priest found hanging, declared dead on arrival at hospital
Kolkata: Tension cropped up over the unnatural death (UD) of the main priest of Siddheswari Kali temple of Behala on Monday morning.
The deceased person, identified as Siddhartha Bhattacharya, (46) was found hanging inside a room of a woman's house with whom he had an extramarital affair.
According to police, on the wee hours of Monday, a person identified as Milan Banerjee approached the Parnasree police station and informed that his brother-in-law has been taken to Vidyasagar State General Hospital. Banerjee said Bhattacharya was found hanging at the house of a woman with whom he used to live.
Police rushed to the hospital and found Siddhartha has already been declared brought dead.
After sending the body for autopsy examination, police detained the woman identified as Jhuma Roy and her son Dhruba Roy who had taken Bhattacharya body to the hospital.
During the inquiry, the police came to know that Siddhartha, the main priest of Siddheswari Kali temple of Behala, used to stay at 162/1 Brahma Samaj Road in Behala with his wife Gautami Bhattacharya. However, for past several years, he had developed an extramarital affair with Jhuma, who stays at 542 F Mahendra Banerjee Road at Trikone Park, Rabindranagar in Behala.
Siddharta used to stay with Gautami and Jhuma alternatively. Over the issue of getting involved in an extramarital relationship, Gautami and Siddharta often had frequent altercations.
According to the statement given to the police by Jhuma, on Sunday night, Siddharta went to Jhuma's residence in a drunken state. He was carrying a bottle of liquor with him.
After reaching Jhuma's house, both of them got involved in an altercation and Siddharta kicked out her pet dog from the house. When Jhuma rushed out to look for the pet dog, Siddharta reportedly locked the main door. Despite repeated attempts when Jhuma failed to get the dog, she called up her son Dhruba.
After a few minutes Dhruba arrived and was able to catch the dog and both of them returned home.
On finding the door locked, they repeatedly knocked but Siddharta did not respond.
Smelling something fishy, Jhuma tried to look inside by peeking through the keyhole and saw Siddharta was trying to hang himself.
Immediately Jhuma and Dhruba broke the door and went inside.
By the time Siddharta managed to hang himself but he was still alive. He was then brought down by Jhuma and Dhruba and rushed to the hospital.
Though Gautami alleged that Siddharta has been murdered by Jhuma, police have not found any clue or suspected any foul play. However, an UD case has been lodged and an investigation is being conducted to find if there is any foul play.
