South City resident jumps to death from 17th floor

Kolkata: A 45-year-old woman committed suicide by jumping off a 17th floor apartment at South City residential complex on Saturday afternoon.

According to police, the victim, Sonali Aikat (45) fell from Tower-3 of the residential apartment which is situated close to the South City Mall. She used to live alone in her apartment.

Preliminary investigation reveals that Aikat jumped from her apartment at around 12.30 pm.

Locals heard a loud thud and found the woman to be lying on a pool of blood. The security personnel of the apartment reported the matter to the police. The victim died on spot. The body was later sent for post-mortem. Police are awaiting the report which would shed some

light on her death.

It has been learnt that the woman was suffering from depression.

Police recovered a number of books on suicide from her apartment and doctor's prescription, which suggests that she was under medication.

The circumstantial evidences suggest that Aikat was doing a research on suicide.

According to a psychologist, there are two types of suicides - planned and impulsive. In case of impulsive suicide, it happens suddenly with a surge of emotions. But in this case it appears to be a preplanned suicide. According to a senior officer of the city police, the victim jumped off the 17th floor of Tower-III of

South City.

She was taken to MR Bangur hospital where she was declared brought dead.

It may be mentioned that in 2012, an 81-year-old woman, along with her two middle-aged daughters jumped to death from the 35th floor terrace of their residence.

The incident created a sensation in the city.

According to the officer, the last Facebook post also hinted that the victim had been suffering from the

depression.

On a Facebook post on March 18, the victim had written: "Mental illness is not funny. It should be an obvious fact. But sadly, it is not. I remember hearing of a colleague who suffered from mental illness.

He had tried to commit suicide in a fairly public place. The whole office got to know about the incident.

And the reaction was laughter, bullying and harassment. I really do not understand people who laugh at such incidents."

Police have started a detailed probe into the death of the woman.