Unable to pay salaries to brick kiln workers, owner kills self

A trader committed suicide in his residence after he was unable to pay salaries to his labourers. Debasish Bhakta, a middle aged person, was the owner of a brick kiln. Bhakta, the resident of Howrah’s Salkia, slit his throat and died on Saturday.

The neighbours witnessed his body lying in a pool of blood. He was taken to a hospital, but was declared brought dead.

“He was alone in his house. He was even not seen in the area for a couple of days. The neighbours found him lying in the pool of blood, on his floor. The door was shut from inside. But the window was ajar. One could easily see inside the room,” said a police officer.

“I saw that the man was lying on the floor. There was a deep cut on his throat with blood oozing out from the wound. A knife was also seen lying beside his body,” said a neighbour.

The investigators learnt that the person was suffering from depression. He kept himself alone in the house too.

“The labourers in his brick kiln were demanding their salaries. But Bhakta could not withdraw adequate money from the bank to pay the salaries. The labourers threatened to lynch him at his workplace,” said a police officer.

“He also lent money from some of the credit societies a few days ago. He could not repay the loan there,” said the officer.

“He was trying to get money from his sources. But he could not get money from bank. His friends also did not lend money to him,” said a family member.

“We sent the body for post-mortem. Let the report come to us,” the officer said.

Meanwhile, the investigator found that the trader took loans from many persons. Those people were also pressurising him to repay the loan.