Body of Trinamool leader from Contai found in Hooghly

Kolkata: The body of a Trinamool Congress leader from East Midnapore who had gone missing on February 7, was found in Hooghly and identified by the police on Sunday night. The incident occurred two days after a Trinamool Congress MLA from Nadia was shot dead by some miscreants.

According to the police, the victim Ritesh Roy, an active Trinamool Congress leader of Contai, had called his family members on the morning of February 7, saying that he was going to Malda along with some of his friends.

Later in the evening, the family members tried his mobile number but failed to contact him. As a result, they registered a missing complaint at the local police station. The police failed to trace the victim and the matter was informed to various other police stations.

Hooghly Police on Sunday sent a photograph of the body to Marishda police station in East Midnapore, following which the family members identified the body of the victim.

Police said that some local residents had spotted the body on February 8 near Talchinan area on Chinsurah-Tarakeswar Road under Dadpur police station in Hooghly. After being informed, police reached the spot and sent the body to Chinsurah Imambara Hospital for post-mortem examination. The district police, however, faced some difficulties in ascertaining the identity of the victim.

According to the preliminary investigation, police suspect that the victim might have been strangled to death as there were some injury marks around his neck. The motive behind the murder is yet to be confirmed by the police. Investigation is on to ascertain if there is any political angle is involved in the incident or any past rivalry.

Police have also started a detailed probe to know where the victim was actually going and who had been accompanying him.