Tenant dies after landlord's son beats him up over late payment

A tenant was killed by his landlord at Ghusuri in Howrah after the former had failed to clear only Rs 1,000 rent.

The victim, Dipak Chowdhury, was beaten up on Sunday afternoon and he succumbed to his injuries in Howrah District Hospital in the wee hours of Monday.

Police said that Dipak had rented two rooms in the house owned by the prime accused, Rohit Singh's father. He had failed to give the rent of the last month. But he had assured of clearing the dues by Wednesday.

On Sunday morning, Rohit's father went to Dipak and asked him to give the rent. Dipak told him that he had joined a work only a few days ago and would clear the rent by Wednesday.

Dipak was abused by Rohit's father on Sunday morning. Despite being abused, Dipak had requested him to give him some more time.

Rohit returned home in the afternoon and came to know that Dipak had asked time till Wednesday to clear the rent.

Rohit along with some of his friends went to Dipak's room and started abusing him. They dragged Dipak out of his house and started beating him up mercilessly.

They hit Dipak's head against a lamppost. He received severe injuries and started bleeding profusely. Rohit and his friends had left the place leaving Dipak in that condition. Later, local people took him to TL Jaiswal Hospital and was later shifted to Howrah District Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries in the wee hours on Monday.

The victim's family members lodged a complaint with the police against Rohit and others. Though the police are yet to arrest Rohit, his friends Roshan and Ashok have been arrested.

Police initiated a probe and questioned both of them to know that where Rohit has taken shelter.

Police said after speaking to local people that Rohit often used to abuse the victim. Dipak was rebuked even for a delay of a day in giving his rent.

Dipak had also planned to shift somewhere else and already had talks with some of the locals to help him get another house where he can rent a room.

The victim's mother told the police that Dipak hardly used to engage in brawls with anyone in the locality. He always preferred to maintain a

good relation with everyone. But he had failed to clear the rent as he had no work for the past few weeks.