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Bhubaneswar, Nov 25: The bodies of a Utkal University staffer, his wife and son were recovered from their house located on the varsity premises by Commissionerate Police late Tuesday night.
Police identified the deceased as Brajabandhu Acharya (58), his wife Pratibha Acharya (55), and his son Biswajeet Acharya (25). The trio committed suicide, police said, adding all three bodies were found hanging inside the garage.
Police said they were alerted by Brajabandhu’s brother-in-law Prabhat Kumar Mishra who visited the house Wednesday morning and became suspicious after nobody opened the door.
The trio hailed from Kakatpur.
“Brajabandhu was working as a lab attendant in the statistics department of the university. All three of them committed suicide by hanging. The trio also stuffed pieces of cloth presumably to prevent anyone from hearing them scream,” police sources said.
“Preliminary investigations reveal that the family was debt-ridden. Biswajeet used to buy and sell second-hand cars and had taken money from several people promising to sell them used cars at low rates. He managed to sell a handful but soon stopped making deliveries to people from whom he had taken money,” Zone-V ACP Rabindra Nath Sathpathy said.
“We’re trying to get information on whether Biswajeet had any business partners,” Sathpathy added.
Jageshwar Parida, a neighbour of the deceased, said Biswajeet was fond of cars.
“Biswajeet used to buy new cars and used to sell them within a few months,” he added.
Parida also said Biswajeet was addicted to tobacco and that he was not keeping well.
The family is survived by a daughter who lives outside of the city. She arrived in the city soon after getting news of the deaths.
“It seems to be a clear case of suicide. It is possible that Biswajeet might have committed suicide first. On seeing him dead, his parents must have followed suit,” twin city police commissioner RP Sharma said.
“An unnatural death case has been registered with Sahid Nagar police station and further investigation is on,” Sharma said.
The three bodies have been sent to Capital Hospital for an autopsy. A forensic team was also at the spot to investigate the matter.
Sources said several people from whom Biswajeet had taken money were visiting his house to demand their money back or give them the vehicles for which they had paid. Biswajeet reportedly owed around Rs 50 lakh to various people in the city, sources added.
