38-year-old youth found dead under staircase

Mystery shrouds the death of a 38-year-old youth whose body was found under the staircase of a community hall at Kandi in Murshidabad on Tuesday morning.

Police said that the victim Jagannath Halder came to work as a cook in a marriage party held in the community hall on Monday night. There were six other people who worked together with Jagganath on Monday night.

All of them went to sleep at around 1.30 am after having their dinner. They were sleeping in a room in the community hall.

On Tuesday morning, the victim’s co-worker Pabitra Sarkar found Jagannath lying under the staircase of the community hall. They initially didn’t realise that he was dead. Thus they turned him and found blood coming out of his mouth. They called a doctor, who confirmed that Jagannath had died.

Police were informed. Policemen from the nearest police station went to the spot and sent the body for an autopsy. A police officer said that there were some bruises on his face and hands. Thus the possibility of foul play behind his death cannot be ruled out. “We are waiting for the post-mortem report which is quite crucial for the investigation of the incident,” he said.

Police spoke to his co-workers and asked them how he came under the staircase when all others were sleeping in the room. But they failed to give any clue. They told the police that they were in deep sleep after working the entire day. Thus they had not realised when Jagannath had gone out of the room.

The police will also speak to the family members of the victim to know whether he had rivalry with anyone or if he had got engaged into any trouble in recent times.