Kolkata's house of horror: Shocking tale of death, skeletons and incest

City cops who accidentally discovered a man living with skeletons of his sister and two pet dogs while investigating the case of death of a septuagenarian thought they had stumbled onto a twisted tale of gore, but the diary of the only surviving member of the family revealed that the wicked plot contained death and incest as well.

Kolkata's house of horror: Shocking tale of death, skeletons and incest

Kolkata: City cops, who accidentally discovered a man living with skeletons of his sister and two pet dogs while investigating the case of death of a septuagenarian, thought they had stumbled onto a twisted tale of gore, but the diary of the only surviving member of the family revealed that the wicked plot contained death and incest as well.

Kolkata police while investigating a fire on the second floor of 3, Robinson Street in the heart of the city found the charred body of 77-year-old Arabindo De, the owner of the house, from inside a bathroom on Wednesday. Sleuths were shocked when they discovered that the only other member of the family — Arabindo's son Partho (45), had been living with the skeleton of his sister and their two pet dogs for six months!

Partho's sister, Debjani De (50), had died six months ago when she stopped eating after the death of her pet dogs.

Partho was sent for medical checkups, but it was his diary that has revealed a shocking trail running in the family.

  • Partho's diary revealed that his 'mother was jealous of sister Debjani's beauty'.
  • 'My mother stripped sister Debjani in a hotel's bathroom......while the family was vacationing in Digha.'
  • Partho wrote that his mother suspected him to be impotent.
  • "My mother suspected me to be impotent, but she was incorrect," read a note in his diary.
  • "Mother kept a maid servant in the house whom I could get sexually attracted to," he wrote.

The family was wary of society, but Partho wrote he felt it was right and did not regret it. "The society did not approve of this, but what we did, we thought was 100% right. Whatever happened, happened because of our decision and we did not regret it," he wrote.

A top police officer said that laptops, desktop computers, notes and letters written by family members and diaries were recovered during a search.

The letters, he said, were not sent by somebody but were surprisingly exchanged by the occupants of the flat between themselves.

Police said that forensic experts would conduct radiology and DNA tests to ascertain the identity of the person whose skeletal remains have been discovered in the house. The skeletons of the pet dogs would also be tested.

"The letters were written just to communicate. In fact, some letters revealed that the writer was quite depressed, while another was probably in reply to those tried to console the writer," he said.

"We are unsure as to who wrote the letters to whom. We are trying to find out. This can be a good clue in the case," the police officer said.

Meanwhile, a medical team comprising three psychologists and two doctors has been formed to check on Partho's mental health.

"We have kept Partho in an isolated room. He is hardly speaking to anyone. In fact, he said he was spiritually connected to his father, sister and the two dogs. He even asked us to shift him to Mother House (of Missionaries of Charity)," said Ganesh Prasad, superintendent of Pavlov Mental Hospital, where Partho was admitted on Thursday.

A five-member team of doctors, including three psychiatrists, has been constituted to probe the case. On Friday Partho agreed to talk to a female doctor but as soon as she entered the room he asked her to undress.

As per doctors, he has shown criminal mindedness and displayed suicidal tendencies.

A doctor said, “Patient prefers to stay isolated and is not taking to anybody. He is not sharing anything with us.”

“He is continuously saying that he should be sent to Mother Teresa home and doesn't wish to stay here,” the doctor added.

A psychometric test would be conducted on him, said doctors and he would be treated for skin diseases emanating due to staying in close proximity with the skeletons.

A nurse treating Partho, when asked whether he remembers his sister, said, “No he did not say anything about his sister. He likes to sleep and remain alone.”

“We are treating him like any other patient. He has been provided with a room, water and we are sticking to the norms. We are treating him according to psychotherapy and in the manner we deal with such patients,” the nurse added.     

The police had found a suicide note purportedly written by the father - Arabindo De - in which he said said no one was responsible for his death.

Special Additional Commissioner of Police(Crime) Pallab Kanti Ghosh said he believed that Partho could not accept his sister's death and did not cremate her body.

Kolkata police also found dry food near the skeletons, which Partho said he had been feeding his sister and the dogs.

Another officer investigating the case added, “It is very surprising that even after so long no smell emanating from the corpses was detected. Even a party was held there but foul smell was detected by no one. The matter is under investigation and we are trying to find out the reasons.”

Forensic examination has revealed that Debjani died of natural causes and that the death occurred some six months back.

Debjani, a spinster, had been a singing teacher at Don Bosco School at Park Circus and at Calcutta Girls School.

Arabindo De's death also appeared unusual, said cops who added that the fire in which he was burnt to death was confined only to the bathroom, which was bolted from inside.

Cops claimed that besides covering windows and doors of the apartment with thick cloth, Partho had blocked even small holes on window frames with tapes probably to stop the smell of the decomposed bodies from going out.

Inside the three rooms as well as in the bathrooms, Partho, a B Tech graduate had set up a sound system and used to play records of American evangelists.

It was learnt that Partho, who turned 45 last month, had thrown a party where he invited his uncle but he did not allow him beyond their drawing room. He had in fact told his uncle that Debjani was meditating in the next room and must not be disturbed.

Partho, had quit his job in a top I-T firm in 2007 and stopped working since then. He stayed with his family in their three-bedroom apartment.

The De's had no maid and they had stopped communicating with their relatives as well. A security guard used to bring them food thrice a day and was paid money for it, cops said.

(With Agency Inputs)

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