She was barely 27. A bubbly scientist at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre committed suicide just days after she had celebrated her birthday on 28th February. She had returned from Kolkata a couple of days ago and was on the verge of getting a promotion soon. But instead, she hanged herself in the Barc staff quarters at Anushakti Nagar.
Titas Pal was found hanging from the windowsill of her room when one of her friends, together with a few neighbors broke open the room. This death comes days after another incident of the similar kind took place in the same very premises, where a 47 year old mechanical engineer was found dead in his flat on February 22.
According to S.K. Malhotra, spokesperson for the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), Titas was a scientific officer with the Isotope division of the Radio Chemistry department. He also said that she had requested a transfer to the Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre, a DAE division in Calcutta and was about to be transferred soon.
The astounding matter is the absence of any suicide note. Let us not forget that when the mechanical engineer died on the night of 22nd February, it was presumed to be an open and shut case of suicide. It was only after the post-mortem reports surfaced ,it had disclosed a different story altogether. The report observed that he had been hit hard with a blunt object.
Though it’s too premature a stage to sit down for speculation. Nevertheless, if even in this case a foul play is detected later on, I, for one would not be amused at it.
