Maddox Square murder: Friends to be questioned again

KOLKATA: A day after the arrest of four persons in the Romit Mondal death case at Maddox Square in south Kolkata, the police have said that it is in the process of identifying the role of each accused in this case. “There are certain gaps in the story found so far and we are trying to plug them,” said a senior investigator.
Contrary to perception, the detective department and Ballygunge police have clarified that they have not yet given the clean chit to Romit’s four friends who were travelling with him from Sonarpur.“We have arrested the accused in the case. But we do believe that there is something amiss in the statements of these friends which actually led to the incident. We might also take the accused to the incident spot to reconstruct the entire crime scene,” explained an officer.
“We are still not clear why Chiranjeet Nandy, who was driving the i-20 car had decided to take a U-turn and come face to face with the accused a second time. This is a fundamental question that needs to be answered. His decision is all the more questionable for two reasons. One, the accused gang had attacked the car and broken its windshields. Two, Nandy had initially claimed that he had taken the U-turn as he was distracted by the broken windscreen. But he later changed his statement saying he was afraid - after a car’s headlights falling on him – that he might get involved in an accident. Why does anyone head towards the direction where one knows there is danger lurking around and with several other exits available at the spot for exits?” asked a senior IPS officer.
The police though say the sequence of events is now getting clearer. The five friends – including Romit – moved towards Congress exhibition Road and Minto Park from where they bought beer at a high price and headed to Maddox Square where Chiranjeet’s office is located. Police said the five friends then began consuming liquor and playing loud music in the car. It was at this point that one of the accused who is yet to be arrested – Baptu – asked them to stop drinking in his area and demanded a “parking fee.”
It was Chiranjeet who replied that he was a regular in that area and asked Baptu to mind his business. Moments later as Baptu tried pressing his point and another accused Ranadeep Sarkar arrived at the spot, Chiranjeet had began abusing them. “Romit was not even touched initially with Chiranjeet and two of his friends - Subhojit Naskar and Surajit Naskar – got beaten up. Romit, who had rushed inside the car when trouble started brewing, came out when he saw Chiranjeet being beaten up. The five friends managed to get in the car and drive off towards Palit Road – before they made the fatal mistake of taking an U-turn.
He claimed that he feared that he would end up in an accident. He swerved and took a sharp U-turn and while they were crossing the accused gang members. It was at this moment that the accused began pelting stones and pavenment tiles at the car and one tile hit Romit that flew inform the open window of the car,” said an investigator.