The two teenagers who were kidnapped on August 22 and murdered were made to sit on the lap of three of their assailants in the back seat of the Maruti Dzire in which they were abducted, an accused has apparently told CID sleuths.
An officer said a car that can accommodate five persons, including the driver, was occupied by eight that night.
“According to one of the accused, Satyendra Chowdhury, the prime accused, was sitting next to the driver and turned back to strangle the two boys, who were being held tightly by his three accomplices. The boys were made to sit on the lap of the accomplices. This version of the accused is being verified,” an investigator said on Thursday.
Four suspects have so far been arrested, but Chowdhury and the man who was at the wheel are still at large.
Earlier in the day, CID sleuths collected multiple CCTV camera footage from the hotel in New Town where Chowdhury and his accomplices had allegedly met to plan the operation.
A team of investigators and more than eight forensic officials collected samples from the spots along the canal at Nazat and Haroa in Basirhat, in North 24-Parganas, where the bodies of Atanu Dey and Abhishek Naskar were found on August 23.
The boys were residents of Baguiati in northeast Kolkata.
Kallol Ghosh, who was the inspector-in-charge of Baguiati police station when the boys were abducted and was suspended following allegations of negligence, was questioned by the CID on Thursday, sources said.
Ghosh was apparently questioned for more than an hour in the presence of a senior officer of the police station. A CID officer said the cops were asked whether the Swift Dzire that was allegedly used to kidnap Atanu and Abhishek, and in which the boys are said to have been killed, had been tampered with in any way and what steps they had taken to keep it in a “sanitised environment”.
The officers also wanted to know how Baguiati police station went about the probe and if they had found any leads that might lead to the arrest of Chowdhury, the main accused, and the driver.
After the meeting, forensic experts conducted a thorough check of the car using a variety of tools, including fingerprint dusters.
A CID officer said they had found what looked like blood stains on the rear seat of the vehicle. Several sets of fingerprints were found on an empty plastic bottle of drinking water that was retrieved from the car.
Also, several strands of hair were recovered from inside the vehicle. A forensic expert said there were no apparent signs of a scuffle in the car.
“The evidence we have collected will be sent to the Central Forensic Sciences Laboratory,” said a forensic expert.
‘Aggrieved families visited CM residence 5 times’: CPM veteran Mohammad Salim
CPM state secretary Mohammad Salim has alleged that family members of murdered student Atanu Dey had visited chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s residence five times seeking help to locate their missing son but were sent back every time without any assurance of help.
“Atanu’s family went to Kalighat, at the doorstep of the chief minister, on five occasions and narrated their ordeal,” Salim told a news conference on Thursday.
“On the first day they were asked to return with a police diary. The next day when they went with a diary, more documents were sought. Finally, after five visits, they were asked to go to Bhabani Bhawan,” he said.
Bhabani Bhawan is the headquarters of the state police. “When they went to the police, they were treated like animals, they were shooed away,” Salim said.
Trinamul MP Shantanu Sen said: “Mohammad Salim’s allegations are baseless.”