Kolkata, 23 December (H.S.): The bodies of two sisters were recovered from a residential flat in the Sodepur area of North 24 Parganas district on Tuesday. The deceased sisters were residents of Harish Chandra Dutta Road, Ward No. 3 of Panihati Municipality. According to the police, it is still unclear whether the deaths were a suicide or a murder.

The deceased have been identified as Sabita Dutta Chattopadhyay (61) and Kanika Dutta (57). The two sisters had been living on the first floor of the aforementioned residence in Sodepur for a long time. On information, the police from the Khardah police station arrived at the scene, recovered the bodies, and sent them for post-mortem.

According to local residents, the elder sister's husband passed away about a year ago, after which the two sisters were struggling with financial difficulties. However, there are various speculations in the area regarding how both sisters died simultaneously. Some are even suggesting that they may have died due to starvation, although this has not been officially confirmed.

The deceased sisters' niece, Payal Dutta, said that after the death of her elder aunt's husband, both aunts were mentally and financially distressed. They did not keep in touch with many people and refused help even when offered by the family. They were quite broken mentally.

According to Payal Dutta, when the sisters could not be contacted for two days, a sister-in-law went to their flat to check on them. After repeatedly calling out to them without receiving a response, she pushed the door open. Inside, both sisters were found lying on the floor in separate rooms.

Police officials stated that no external injuries were found on either of the bodies. The police are also not ruling out the possibility that one sister died and the other suffered a heart attack. The police are currently awaiting the post-mortem report, after which the actual cause of death will be revealed.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Priyanka Pandey