Tenants held for transporter’s murder in Parnasree

KOLKATA: Hours after the “unnatural death of a transporter in Behala’s Parnasree, the police has arrested two women – both his tenants – for being allegedly involved in the murder. What though has made the arrest important is the fact that sections of the local police as also the sleuths of the detective department still believe that this was a case of accidental death.
Explaining the need for the arrest, a top southwest division officer said the “circumstantial evidence” and the failure of the women to create an alibi had forced cops to arrest them. This is the third instance – following murders at Entally and Elliot road – where the local police have arrested the accused based on “FIR” disregarding the homicide squad’s initial findings. None of the officers at Lalbazar refused to comment on this significant development. The case in Entally has now reached High Court after police arrested three tenants saying they “pressurized” the landlady to hang herself despite homicide squad ruling out any foul play.
The victim has been identified as one Sanath Sur Roy (63). The accused have been identified as Sumita Mondal (43) and Mousumi Ram Mondal (35). Police say it is Mousami who allegedly has a relationship with the victim. He is survived by his wife and two daughters – both of whom are employed in the IT and pharmaceutical industries. “It was his wife Ratna Sur Roy who lodged the specific FIR. We have found that the family left Sanath’s residence at Parnasree and moved to Batanagar following an illicit relationship with one of the two women and his alcoholism. We are not satisfied yet with their excuses and find merit in the fact that the murder could be for property,” said a senior investigating officer.
According to special additional CP (crime) Pallab Kanti Ghosh, Roy was staying alone at the ground floor of his residence on Abhay Bidyalankari Road. Being an alcoholic, the police said that his wife and two daughters were staying separately at Batanagar. He had two tenants staying at his residence “He was last noticed by neighbours two days ago when he was found bleeding from his head. It was evident he had hurt himself badly after tripping after consuming alcohol. He was taken to a doctor and he received medical attention,” said DC (Behala) Rashid Munir Khan. “It was a fresh wound on his shoulder and head that led us to believe that it was a murder and not an accident. However, the investigation is still on in this case and we will wait for the postmortem report for confirmation,” said Khan.
According to police sources, it was one of his tenants who found him lying unconscious and bleeding near the main door on Thursday after several efforts to attract his attention failed. The cops at Parnasree police station were informed immediately. He was declared dead at the spot itself by a doctor. Cops questioned why Sanath’s driver Lalan who was taking care for him was not allowed entry to the house by the tenants for almost 24 hours before Sanath’s death. The accused claimed that the victim was sleeping and did not want to be disturbed.
“So far, we have found no forced entry in to his residence. All his injuries are on his forehead and the back of his head. It seems he died several hours ago. It seems nothing valuable is missing from the house. Hence, prima facie, it seems like an accident. But then again, the injury at the back of his head seems fresher than the others. Given that he had frequent arguments with several people due to his alcoholism, we do not want to take any chances especially since the other neighbours too suspected something was amiss in the way the two women conducted themselves on Thursday,” said a senior investigating officer.