53-year-old iron trader found dead inside his factory

A 53-year-old iron trader was killed inside his factory on Sunday at Liluah in Howrah.

Police said that the victim, Ashok Singh was a resident of the locality adjacent to his factory. But he didn’t go home on Saturday night as there were guests in his factory on the eve of Viswakarma Puja.

On Sunday morning, local people found him lying in a pool of blood inside a room in his factory. They informed the police. Policemen from Liluah police station went to the spot and sent the body for an autopsy.

A police officer said that after preliminary investigation it seems that someone killed him by hitting on his head with something heavy like a hammer. Police suspect that he fell on the ground after being hit once on his head as there was no other mark of injury on his body.

The accused fled when he fell on the ground and became unconscious. Excessive bleeding from the injury on the trader’s head led to his death, police suspect. The motorbike and mobile phone of the trader were missing. Police spoke to the people who reside in the vicinity, to know whether they had seen anyone entering the factory on Saturday night. But no one had managed to give any clue to the police.

The investigating officers had come to know about the guests who had visited him on Saturday. “Some of them were questioned and we have summoned three more traders with whom the victim used to do business,” said a police officer, adding that it could also be possible that he fell asleep leaving the main gate of his factory after the guests left on Saturday night and thieves had killed him and decamped with valuables from the factory.

The local people had not heard any sound when the incident took place as the room where he had fell asleep was situated quite inside at a distance of around 15 feet from the main gate of the factory.

Police also spoke to the victim’s family members to know whether he had rivalry with anyone.