E-Paper
Cancer patient commits suicide live on Facebook in Darjeeling
Arindam Dutta (43), a resident of Purba Vivekananda Palli, Hakimpara, in Darjeeling’s Siliguri, started a video from his Facebook account and took his life.
A blood cancer patient in West Bengal committed suicide live on Facebook on Saturday.
Arindam Dutta (43), a resident of Purba Vivekananda Palli, Hakimpara, in Darjeeling’s Siliguri, started a video from his Facebook account and tied a nylon rope round his neck.
Five of his Facebook friends, who noticed him, tried to persuade him against it through comments. Some of them also called him up on his mobile but he did not receive them and went on to take his life.
Police recovered Dutta’s body from his house on Sunday morning.
Minutes before killing himself, Dutta had called up his childhood friend, Mohammed Alam, who works as a journalist in Kolkata.
Alam now regrets not being able to take the call. “Had I received the call, probably I could have persuaded him to refrain from taking such an extreme step,” he said.
“As I could not take his call, he called up my wife and told her that he is not interested in living,” Alam said.
He also said that after being detected with blood cancer, Dutta’s friends had assured him that they would contribute for his treatment.
“But I had never imagined he will commit suicide. Incidentally, we had a family get-together at Kolkata three weeks back, where Dutta was present,” he said.
According to his Facebook profile, he was self- employed and an alumnus of FDI School in Jalpaiguri and AC College of Commerce, Jalpaiguri.
His friends said, Dutta, a divorcee, was depressed for quite some time after being detected with blood cancer. He was staying alone at his residence at Siliguri and had a daughter, who is currently staying with his former wife.
Dutta used to run to run an Internet café in Jalpaiguri before he shifted to Siliguri after selling his share in his family property there.
Achinta Gupta, assistant commissioner of police, said that the police is probing the matter.
