Body of retired Castrol manager found 20 days after he committed suicide

The deceased was identified as Narayan Kumar Shende (65), a retired manager with Castrol India, who lived in NSG society, after separating from his wife, son and daughter.

The body of a 65-year-old retired manager of Castrol was found hanging from a ceiling fan in one of the rooms of his 3-BHK rented house in NSG society in Kasna of Greater Noida on Wednesday morning, 20 days after he allegedly took his life, according to police.

The deceased was identified as Narayan Kumar Shende (65), a retired manager with Castrol India, who lived in NSG society, after separating from his wife, son and daughter. (AFP)

The deceased was identified as Narayan Kumar Shende (65), a retired manager with Castrol India, who lived in NSG society, after separating from his wife, son and daughter.

Neither the family nor the neighbours or members of the residential society checked on the senior citizen in the past 20 days, as he lived alone in a single storey house for the past two years. There are over 350 houses in NSG society with almost 90% occupancy.

His body was discovered around 10 am on Wednesday by another senior citizen, who sometimes visited him, after the victim did not respond to his phone calls or the door bell at his house.

“Narayan Kumar did not interact with anyone in the society and he did not keep any cook, maid or helper with him. He used to meet another senior citizen Karan Singh, a resident of Delhi, when the latter used to visit NSG society to meet his son,” said Praveen Kataria, deputy secretary, NSG society, Greater Noida.

“On January 1, when Karan Singh called on his number, his phone was found unreachable. Then on Wednesday, when Karan Singh tried knocking at his door, there was no response. And then he went to the rear side of the house and saw Narayan hanging with a ceiling fan in one of the rooms. He immediately informed me and I called 100,” Kataria said.

Police suspect the body is over 20 days old. “It has been sent for post mortem. Reports are awaited,” said Vineet Jaiswal, superintendent of police (rural).

Police have found a suicide note in which the victim has said that he is taking his life and mentioned the phone numbers of his wife, his son and his daughter, Jaiswal said.

The victim’s son Amey Shende revealed that his father had separated from his wife Madhuri Shende and the rest of his family for the past two years. He claimed that he was not keeping well since he lost Rs 25 lakh in share markets recently.

“After his retirement, my father had made it clear that he wanted to live separately and he moved to NSG society. Meanwhile, I moved in with my mother to Sector 56 of Noida. He had recently lost Rs 25 lakh in share markets and was disturbed after that. Even before, he had bought a flat in Dwarka of Delhi and a penthouse in Amrapali Sapphire project in Greater Noida, but he had sold both of them. I last spoke to him one and a half months ago,” said Amey.

Dr Anurag Bhargav, chief medical officer of Gautam Budh Nagar, said that in such cases where the body remains undiscovered for many days, several factors play their part.

“Our findings will depend on the post mortem reports once it comes out. However, it also depends if the house’s air conditioner was switched on by the victim or there was no way for sunlight to enter the house. A body can be preserved for a few days under cold conditions,” said Bhargav.

District police had arranged a ‘senior citizens week’ initiative in the first week of December where police officials met elderly people living in different societies of Greater Noida.

Station house officer of Kasna Police station Ramphal Singh said, “Our police post in-charge informed us that he used to greet him once in a while whenever he used to be on his morning walk. However, the deceased never showed any signs of being disturbed. We did not get an opportunity to meet him during senior citizen week initiative.”