Doctor falls to death from high-rise after meeting Thai social media friend

Police said that the victim went to the apartment in east Kolkata around 10 pm where the Thai woman has been staying in a rented flat since May

A 37-year-old paediatric oncologist died after he fell from a five-storey building while trying to scale down in the early hours of Tuesday after meeting a Thai woman whom he had engaged with on social media.

For representational purposes only. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

“The victim’s family hasn’t lodged any complaint. We have registered a case of unnatural death. Prima facie we have found nothing which could suggest that there was some foul play. We are waiting for the autopsy report,” said a senior Kolkata Police officer.

Police said that the victim, identified as Salt Lake resident Subhankar Chakraborty, went to the apartment in east Kolkata around 10 pm where the Thai woman has been staying in a rented flat since May.

Preliminary probe suggests that the woman, a Thai national, was a social media friend of the doctor and had come to Kolkata to meet him and also wanted his advice for some treatment.

The doctor started receiving multiple calls from his family after midnight. His friend (the woman) called the building’s caretaker to wake him as the main gate was locked and the doctor was not being able to go out. The caretaker, however, didn’t respond.

“It was then that the doctor went up to the terrace and tried to scale down the building and fell. He was found lying in a pool of blood in front of the G+4 residential building. The woman said that he had consumed alcohol,” said an officer.

Chakraborty’s wife is also a doctor and they have a child. He was also guitarist in an all-doctor band.

“We are checking CCTV footage and call records. The woman had indeed made multiple calls to the caretaker. The Thai Consulate has been contacted,” said the officer.