Parnasree murder: Two cousins of the deceased woman confess to crime

Kolkata: Two people have been arrested as part of the investigation into the murder of Susmita Mondal (45) and her son Tamojit Mondal (13), who were found dead at their Parnasree flat on the night of September 6.

The two arrested—Sanjoy Das and Sandip Das— are cousins of the deceased woman, stated the police.

During investigation of the double murder, police questioned several neighbours and family members of the deceased. Though Susmita's husband Tapan Mondal was detained and interrogated, relatives of the woman were under strict surveillance and noticing "unusual movements" the cops, on Saturday night, picked up Sanjoy from his house at Shyampur in Maheshtala. During interrogation he confessed that he along with his brother had killed Susmita. In the wee hours of Sunday Sandip was also picked up.

They were grilled again and the duo told the cops that due to the pandemic they were in a financial crunch and had huge debts. Sanjoy used to work at a garment's chain retail shop as a CCTV camera operator and repairman in Esplanade and Sandip was a driver of a Calcutta High Court lawyer. Due to the lockdown Sanjoy's salary was slashed and he was unable to repay his loans. He called up Susmita around a month ago and asked for Rs 5,000 which she did not have at that time. Later Susmita called up Sanjoy's mother Gita Das and told that she would call them once the money was arranged.

Since then there was no communication between Susmita and Sanjoy. Once Sanjoy learnt that he would not get any financial help from his cousin he took Sandip into confidence and decided to rob Susmita's flat.

Before going there, the duo made a recce about the surveillance cameras in the area of Parnasree—where Susmita lived—in order to avoid the CCTVs as much as possible.

On September 6 they went to Susmita's house when she was alone with her son. Seeing her cousins, Susmita allowed them inside the flat. While Sandip was talking to her, Sanjoy used a wire cutter and slit Susmita's throat. When she ran towards the bedroom he stabbed her. Hearing the commotion, Tamojit came out of another room leaving his online classes. When Sanjoy and Sandip saw him, they slashed his throat also. Police are yet to recover the murder weapon and Susmita's mobile phone.