Two teenaged girls, in school uniforms, jumped off the rooftop of a multi-storey housing complex in the city following an alleged quarrel with their guardians on Tuesday evening. One of the deceased, Sabiba Chandan Madan, 15, was the resident of a flat (MIG-II) in the ninth floor of the 18-storey C-II tower of Upohar Housing Complex at Panchasayar in East Jadavpur. Another girl was her friend Neha Punjwani, a resident of Bansdroni in Tollygunge. Both were Class 9 students of B.D. Memorial International School at Pratapgarh in Narendrapur.
The girls’ suicide pact took place within two weeks of the suicide of three women at a high-rise at Prince Anwar Shah Road in the same area. Amita Mukherji, 70 and her two unmarried daughters Mukuta and Kheya of Golf Green had jumped to death from the top of the 35-storey residential tower in South City.
According to sources, these two girls had become late while leaving the school and had missed their pool car. A security guard of the high-rise recalled that the girls had “walked” into the complex instead of coming in the pool car at around 5.35 pm. The CCTV footages at the gate of the housing complex corroborated his version. “Sabiba’s father was accompanying them,” the guard added.
Entering her flat (907), Sabiba was perhaps scolded by her parents over an issue in front of her classmate, preliminary investigations suggest.
Humiliated, Sabiba locked her parents in the flat from outside with Neha’s help, went to the rooftop and soon both the girls jumped from there, the police learnt after finding the girls’ watches and shoes at the roof. “The girls were found dead in a pool of blood on the concrete premises 10 minutes after their entry,” the security guard mentioned. The two bodies were lying at a distance to each other, sources disclosed.
Deputy commissioner of police (south suburban) Sujoy Kumar Chanda said, “The girls were rushed to Peerless Hospital where the doctors declared them brought dead. It appears that they fell from the rooftop. The incident is really tragic.” The bodies were sent for post-mortem.