Bhawanipore bizman murder: Two held; CM visits family of deceased
A businessman from Bhowanipore was brutally murdered and his body was concealed in a water reservoir by his business partner in Nimta. Two people have been arrested so far. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee visited the residence of the deceased businessman and expressed her condolences to his family members.
Sources said the victim Bhabya Lakhani of Bhowanipore had a business of medicines. He left his residence at Ballygunge Circular Road on Monday afternoon and did not return. His wife Neha Lakhani lodged a complaint at the Ballygunge police station on Tuesday. She also informed police that Bhabya had informed her that he was going to his business partner’s house in Nimta. Based on this information, cops of Ballygunge Police Station visited the residence of the business partner Anirban Gupta and interrogated him. Anirban admitted that Bhabya came to his house but said that the latter left in the evening.
He further claimed that Bhabya told him that he would be going to a club where he was a member. However, Bhabya’s wife doubted Anirban since the club remains closed on Mondays. On suspicion, police detained Anirban and during interrogation, he told the cops that he took about Rs 50 lakh from Bhabya for medicine supply but since he did not supply any medicine, Bhabya was demanding his money back. On Monday, he asked Bhabya to come to his home on the pretext of returning the money. When Bhabya was talking to Anirban in the presence of another person identified as Suman Das, suddenly the accused persons began assaulting him with a cricket bat and a wicket. After he died, the duo concealed the body under the structure on which the water reservoir was placed.
The duo allegedly sealed the gap using bricks and cement. After getting the confession from both Gupta and Das, cops recovered the body from the roof of Anirban’s house and sent it for autopsy. Suman was also taken into custody. On Wednesday, the Chief Minister came to know about the gruesome murder of Bhabya while she was in Siliguri. She immediately cancelled her programmes and returned to Kolkata. After meeting the family members of the deceased, she said: “I got sad news in Siliguri. Hence, I cancelled the procession and left for Kolkata. Bhabya was a simple businessman. They had filed a missing diary with the police. The police made the arrests shortly after. I think they are more than criminals. It was a pre-planned murder.”
Kolkata Police Commissioner Vineet Goyal, who accompanied Banerjee to the house of the businessman, told the media that it was only when both the accused persons were made to sit face to face and interrogated, that they confessed to the crime.
