Merchant navy officer found dead in his Kalwa apartment

A 33-year-old merchant navy captain was found dead at his residence in Kalwa on Thursday. The police suspect that it may be a case of suicide or drug overdose.

A 33-year-old merchant navy captain was found dead at his residence in Kalwa on Thursday. The police suspect that it may be a case of suicide or drug overdose.

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“The deceased, Senthil Kumar Duraiswami, had not reported to work for the past five weeks,” said VB Desai, senior police inspector, Kalwa police station said. “On checking his call records, we found that he had not returned any calls from his office. We suspect he was under depression. Prima facie, it appears that he died by consuming poison or due to drug overdose.”

Desai said they were awaiting the medical reports and have filed a case of accidental death.

Duraiswami, owner of a duplex apartment in Shrui Krishna Darshan Society, is survived by his parents and younger brother. His family was in Kerala to attend a wedding, the police said.

“Although Duraiswami was a bachelor, he was in a relationship with an American nurse for the past two years. She is a two-time divorcee and has six children. One of her sons, Sam Siddhique (16), had been living with the deceased since the past few days,” Desai said.

Desai said Duraiswami’s family was aware of his relationship, as the women and her children had stayed with them during a trip to India last year.

According to the police, Duraiswami and Siddhique had dinner around 1.30am on Wednesday night, after which the latter went to the upper floor to study. After studying till 10am, Siddhique went to sleep. He woke up around 4pm and went looking for Duraiswami.

“His bedroom door was looked. When he did not get up, Siddhique alerted the neighbours, who then called the police,” Desai said. “We found a bottle of alcohol near his body. However, no suicide note was found in his room. We will be able to confirm the cause of death only after getting the post-mortem reports.”