Tragedy struck the capital’s academic community on Monday morning after police recovered the body of Dhirendra Kumar Roy, a 71-year-old former teacher of Notre Dame College, from his residence in Dhaka’s Kalabagan area. Authorities suspect the retired educator committed suicide by hanging himself at his family home.
The incident occurred at house number 188 on Green Road under the jurisdiction of Kalabagan Police Station. According to law enforcement officers, Roy hanged himself using a ceiling fan inside one of the bedrooms. His daughter discovered him suspended from the ceiling upon waking up in the morning and immediately raised an alarm.
With the assistance of neighbours, family members quickly brought him down and rushed him to the nearby Green Life Hospital. However, attending physicians pronounced him dead on arrival at approximately 9:15 AM. Receiving news of the incident from hospital authorities, a police team arrived at the medical facility around 10:15 AM to take custody of the body for official inquest procedures.
Detailing the circumstances leading up to the discovery, Sub-Inspector Atiqur Rahman of Kalabagan Police Station explained that Roy’s wife, Dipali Roy, who works as a schoolteacher, had left the apartment earlier in the morning for her workplace. At the time, their daughter was sleeping in another room. The tragedy came to light when she woke up shortly afterwards and went to check on her father, only to find him unresponsive.
Quoting family members, Sub-Inspector Rahman noted that the retired college teacher had been grappling with severe physical ailments alongside mental distress since 2025. Relatives indicated that prolonged illness and cognitive distress had severely impacted his daily life in recent months.
Roy hailed from Bongram Residential Area in Manikganj Sadar Upazila, and was the son of the late Shuddhanga Kumar Roy. During his tenure at the prestigious Notre Dame College in Dhaka, he was widely regarded by colleagues and generations of students as a dedicated educator. Police have initiated preliminary legal proceedings and sent the body for an autopsy to ascertain the precise cause of death while continuing to record statements from close relatives and neighbours.
