Antara lived in horror, says father

KOLKATA: Antara Das had changed her mobile number thrice in the past six months, deleted all photographs and details from her Facebook profile and used to keep her windows shut whenever she was alone at her paying guest accommodation to hide from the stalker, her parents said on Monday .
“Everyday , she was living in horror. She used to tell us that on weekends, she was left alone at the accommodation as her two room-mates would go out.She said someone would knock on her door but when she opened there was nobody .She could also feel someone was standing on the road outside staring at the window. She would call us and cry ,“ said Antara's father Debananda Das on Monday .
One of Antara's friends (un willing to be named) has said over the past few months, she had changed her mobile number three times and had also deleted all her photographs from social media. “She had even deactivated the account for some days. When she reactivated it, she had deleted all her photographs. She used to fear the stalker may morph her photographs,“ the friend said.
At present, Antara's Facebook profile shows her last update was on June 10, 2015. The post is an education details update that reads: “Started study ing at Pailan College of Management and Technology“. However, her profile has her work details updated as a software engineer at Capgemini India Pvt Ltd at Pune, which she had joined only on April this year.This shows she had deleted some of the contents of her profile including the job update notification. The profile picture has the photograph of a smiling baby girl and the cover picture has an array of water candles floating on a lake.
Investigating officers recovered a diary maintained by Antara at her paying guestroom where they found mentions of her fears and about someone calling her repeatedly from different numbers and the fact she felt someone was stalking her standing outside the window.
“We were not allowed to check the contents of the diary but cops have said the diary has mentions she felt random knocks on her door and at times stones being pelted on her windows. She had told us she used to keep the windows closed every time she was home alone,“ said Das.
Antara used to stay at the first floor of a two-storyed private house at Sindhunagar Nigdi with two room-mates in a single room. “She had even informed the matter to the landlord but they could not spot anyone. She was so scared she would have vacated the house on December 31st and would have started stay ing at another rented house, sharing it with one of her colleagues from early next year,“ her father said.
On Monday , a team of officers took Antara's parents, sister Sanchari and a relative to the house at Sindhunagar.