A retired schoolteacher in Assam's Darrang district allegedly took his life after the National Register of Citizens (NRC) sent him a notice declaring him a foreigner. Police recovered a suicide note and the notice from NRC from his shirt pocket.
According to Anandabazar Patrika, Niradbaran Das hung himself in his own house. In the suicide note he left, he declared no one in the family was responsible for his death and instructed his wife to pay off debts he owed to five people. A report on NDTV said that he owed Rs 1200 to each of these 5 persons.
Das' family said that he had suffering from trauma and anxiety ever since his name did not make it to the NRC second draft that was published earlier this year. The notice from the authorities declaring him a 'foreigner', the family said, was the last straw.
Das had completed his masters from Guwahati University and had taught in the school he attended himself as a student, for 34 years. He retired in 2012, Anandabazar Patrika reports.
NDTV reports that Das was recently served a notice by the Foreigner's Tribunal as well and he had two months to produce documents to prove his citizenship.
A students' group organised protests in Assam's Karupetia district after Das' death and shut down schools, colleges, markets and banks. The deceased's family also refused to let the body be taken for autopsy till the superintendent of the police assured them of a probe.