'Stoneman' kills youth

Kolkata: It is as if the torn pages of a bestselling Agatha Christie novel or ripped off from a Hitchcock flick, mixed with a strong stench of Bengali thriller Baishe Srabon, it seems that the "stoneman" is back in the city.

The mere mention of whom sent shivers down the spines of Calcuttans in the 80s, the "stone man", as the city-dwellers of 2017 would like to call him, killed a youth with the motive behind murkier than the build-up of any first-grade thriller.

An unidentified youth was found dead in Howrah with his head smashed with a heavy stone which brought back the memory of the infamous "stone man" and his serial killings in the city.

The body of the youth, who had been staying on a roadside pavement at the Ramkrishnapur Ghat area of Howrah, was found on the roadside pavement adjacent to river Hooghly on Friday morning. A blood-stained stone was also found lying a few feet away from the body, bringing back the old memories of "stoneman" that had created a flutter across the state a few decades ago. The discovery of the blood-stained stone close to the body created panic among locals who fear that the "stoneman" is back in town.

However, cutting through the mist of fear and paranoia spread by the "stoneman" of the 21st Century, the cops are trying to look at it from all angles. They feel that some miscreants killed the victim with a heavy stone.

Morning walkers at the Ramkrishnapur Ghat area were in for a shock after they discovered the body with his head smashed entirely.

However, no other major injury marks were found on the body, police said. The incident was immediately reported at the local station. The police rushed to the spot after being informed and sent the body for a post-mortem examination.

However, police are yet to ascertain the identity of the deceased.

Does that remind you of the Srijit Mukherjee movie that kept the audience on their toes till the end? Well, according to the preliminary investigation, police suspect that the victim was a vagabond and had been staying in that area for the past few days.

A local resident said that the incident has left a mark on the morning walkers who spotted the body smeared in blood. His face was completely disfigured as it was hit by a heavy stone lying nearby.

Police recovered the stone and sent it for examination.

As per routine investigation, police are going through the CCTV footages to find out the whereabouts of the miscreants.

Police are also investigating the motive behind the murder. It is still a matter of investigation if the man had been murdered following any past rivalry. But these questions will only be answered after they can at least identify the deceased whose face has been disfigured beyond recognition.

Police are interrogating the locals and shop-keepers who might throw some light on the death.

Police came to know in the investigation that the man was not the only person who used to stay on the pavement at Ramkrishnapur Ghat and are interrogating the other pavement-dwellers if they had any clue in this connection.

So is there really a "stoneman" lurking out there? Or is it just another criminal who wants to spread fear among the city-dwellers? Or is it completely different just like the veiled denouement of BaisheShrabon? Nothing but time can answer all this.

It may be mentioned that around one-and-half-year ago, a similar kind of incident occurred in Howrah's Kadamtala Ghat where an elderly man was bludgeoned to death with a stone in the same fashion.