A pall of gloom descended over the capital’s academic circles on Monday morning after police recovered the body of Dhirendra Kumar Roy, a respected 71-year-old former teacher of Notre Dame College, from his family residence in Dhaka’s Kalabagan area. Law enforcement officials suspect that the veteran academic took his own life inside his apartment.
The tragic discovery was made at house number 188 on Green Road, a residential and commercial thoroughfare falling within the precinct of Kalabagan Police Station. According to investigators, Roy used a ceiling fan inside one of the bedrooms to hang himself. His daughter, who was asleep in an adjacent room when the incident took place, awoke shortly before nine in the morning and walked into the quarters to find her father suspended and unresponsive.
Distraught, she immediately alerted nearby residents. Neighbours and family members rushed into the flat, brought him down, and transferred him directly to the neighbouring Green Life Hospital in an urgent bid to revive him. However, attending physicians in the emergency unit pronounced him dead on arrival at approximately 9:15 AM.
Following standard notification from hospital authorities, a dispatch team from Kalabagan Police Station arrived at the medical centre at around 10:15 AM to take custody of the body and prepare the mandatory inquest documentation.
Sub-Inspector Atiqur Rahman, who is handling the preliminary inquiry, detailed the timeline preceding the incident. Roy’s wife, Dipali Roy, who works as a local schoolteacher, had left the Green Road flat earlier that morning to attend to her classroom duties. With her mother away at work, the daughter remained at home resting until she woke up to the harrowing sight.
Citing accounts gathered from family members, Sub-Inspector Rahman disclosed that the retired college teacher had been battling chronic physical complications alongside severe mental distress since 2025. Relatives indicated that deteriorating physical health and persistent depression had severely affected his routine and taken a heavy psychological toll on his daily life.
Originally hailing from the Bongram residential neighbourhood in Manikganj Sadar Upazila, Roy was the son of the late Shuddhanga Kumar Roy. Throughout his extensive teaching career at Notre Dame College, widely regarded as one of the country’s landmark educational institutions, he earned high esteem from colleagues and generations of students for his academic dedication.
Police authorities have registered an unnatural death case in connection with the incident. The body has been transferred to a government hospital morgue for a post-mortem examination to establish the precise cause of death, whilst investigating officers continue to record statements from close relatives and neighbours.
