Kolkata: Body of missing 66-year-old businessman found floating in river – Times of India

KOLKATA: The body of a 66-year-old businessman — who had recently recovered from Covid, but was apparently exhibiting some post-recovery complications — was found floating in the Hooghly, more than 12 hours after he had gone missing under mysterious circumstances early on Sunday, and just a while before the enhanced pandemic restrictions kicked in.
Shrawan Kumar Birla, a resident of Karaya Road in Ballygunge, had left home around 5am in his car. The car itself was found abandoned on the Howrah-bound flank of Vidyasagar Setu 30 minutes later by a traffic cop, the driver’s door open and the ignition keys still inside.
Sources close to him told cops that Birla was an avid cyclist and morning walker, who rarely used his car in the morning. Also, he had not informed anyone before leaving.
Police sources said Birla had been detected Covid-positive about 20 days ago. He was treated in hospital, and was declared negative a few days ago, but was not completely well, suffering from some post-Covid complications. His wife, too, had Covid. Police said Birla ran an car spare parts business, with an office on Prinsep Street. His wife, too, runs a business. The couple have two grown-up children — a son, settled in Mumbai, and a daughter who stays in Dubai.
DCP (South) Akash Magharia said the family had not lodged any written complaint till late evening. The Hastings police station, which is investigating the case, took help of trained divers and trained Disaster Management Group (DMG) personnel, who searched the river to ascertain whether he could have fallen in. The search yielded results only around 6.30pm, when his body was found from the banks of the river in Nazirganj ghat, several kilometres downstream from the bridge on which his car was found in the morning.
The body was taken to SSKM Hospital, where Birla’s wife identified it.
“We have begun investigations. We cannot surmise how he died before the post-mortem report comes in,” said the DCP. “We are probing all angles, and are even trying to find out whether he had suffered some losses in his business, or was upset for some other reason.”
The cops will visit the family to record their statements on Monday.