Malda boy killed in New Town for ransom, body recovered from suitcase
Kolkata: A NEET aspirant from Malda was murdered for ransom in the New Town area.
The body of Sajjad Hossain (19) was recovered from a suitcase from under the bed of his friend who stays in another rented room. Two persons, including a fast-food shop owner, have been arrested. They were remanded to police custody for 10 days after the duo was produced at the Barasat Court.
According to sources, Sajjad, a resident of Old 16 Mile area of Birnagar in Kaliachak had come to Kolkata to prepare for NEET. He was staying in a rented room at Tarulia area under jurisdiction of New Town Police Station.
His father, Muktar Hossain, claimed that his son had been missing since October 4. After failing to contact his son, Muktar, on October 5, came to New Town and lodged a missing diary. On the same day in the evening, Muktar received a photo of his son on WhatsApp. It showed his mouth and hands were taped. The abductor also demanded Rs 30 lakh as ransom for Sajjad’s release. The picture was soon deleted.
During the probe, cops checked the CCTV footage of the area and spotted one of the accused, Goutam Singh, coming out from a liquor shop along with Sajjad. The police detained Goutam and interrogated him. Later, he was arrested. An associate of Goutam, identified as Pappu Ghosh, was also arrested. Cops came to know that Goutam, hailing from Bihar, runs a fast-food shop in Tarulia where Sajjad used to visit. Seeing Sajjad’s lifestyle, Goutam and other accused persons thought that he could be a good source of money and thus planned to abduct him and demand ransom. However, police have also detained a few other people and interrogated them to confirm the motive behind the abduction and murder.
“Preliminary investigation revealed that Sajjad was strangled to death. So far, we have found the involvement of these two accused only. However, we are waiting for the autopsy report to ascertain the cause of death,” said Manav Singla, Deputy Commissioner of Police, New Town Division.
