A 75-year-old patient was found hanging in his cabin at Kothari Medical Centre, in Alipore, on Tuesday morning.

Kanailal Das, a resident of Bagha Jatin Avenue, in the Jadavpur police station area, was a retired railway employee. He was suffering from cancer. Das’ body was found hanging from the spring-driven door-closer of his cabin on the ninth floor of the hospital.

Das was the only patient in the cabin and police said initial indications made it seem like a suicide, especially since Das knew he was terminally ill. However, no suicide note was found in the cabin. The body has been sent for post-mortem.

“Das used a gamchha to hang himself from the door-closer,” a hospital spokesperson said.

When a nurse on duty went to check his blood pressure around 5.30 on Tuesday morning, she could not push open the door. She informed the hospital authorities. Police were called up immediately. The door-closer was broken and the body brought down, the spokesperson added.

Das had been admitted to the clinic on June 5 and was to be released in a few days, according to N.K. Roy, deputy medical superintendent of the hospital, on Tuesday. Das had cancer of the liver and pancreas and it had spread to other organs of his body. He had undergone an operation on June 28, and doctors had told his family that the chances of his survival were remote. “He would have lived for barely a couple of months,” Roy said.

According to police, Das’ medical expenses were being borne by his son, who works in a private firm. Hospital officials said Das had informed them on Sunday that he did not require a private attendant any longer. Earlier, he had a night attendant.

Hospital sources said Das had not been suffering from depression. No psychologist had been attending to him.

Das’ family did not make any allegations of negligence against Kothari Medical Centre, police said.