File photo of Police outside 3 Robinson Lane, Kolkata
Arabinda De loved talking about his children, said a lawyer who was close to him; the 77 year old was charred to death inside a bathroom at his residence in Kolkata this Thursday morning. Preliminary investigations have indicated that the bathroom door was locked from the inside.
Subir Majumdar, a friend of the deceased said, "He really adored both of them. He used to say Partha was brilliant and praised Debjani's singing. Also he would talk about how Partha was always recording whenever his sister sang," added Majumdar.
Mr De had been living with his son Partha De and daughter Debjani De at their Robinson Lane residence in central Kolkata.
When police came to investigate Mr De's death, they found that he and his son were living with skeletons of Debjani and two dogs in the house. The labrador dogs had died in August 2014, while the 50 year old school teacher died on December 29 the same year.
Mr Majumdar, who would meet Mr De once a week said, "Not even once did he say that Debjani was dead. He was always jovial and smiling and I never had any inkling that he was depressed or was contemplating suicide."
44 year old engineer, Partha De, who is now admitted in the city's Pavlov Hospital, has confessed to living with and 'feeding' his sister Debjani. Police say the woman's woman's skeleton was found fully clothed, a lot of food was found lying around it. The remains have been sent for forensic examination.
Partha De and his sister were engineers with Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech) degrees. He used to work at a reputed IT company, she as a music teacher at some well-known English medium schools.
Their father, Mr De, was director in a British company in Bangalore. He retired in 1987, came to Kolkata a year later and moved in their ancestral home at 3 Robinson Lane in 1989.