A 31-year-old employee of a private bank allegedly murdered an elderly man, put the body in a trolley bag and dumped it behind Karigori Bhavan in New Town on Saturday morning.
Soumo Kanto Jana, who is from Egra in East Midnapore and was posted in the bank’s Nimta branch, in North 24-Parganas, was arrested on Sunday in connection with the murder of Subodh Sarkar.
Manav Singhal, deputy commissioner of police, New Town, said Sarkar had an account in the branch where Jana worked. The accused, Singhal said, knew the victim for two years.
“Sarkar, in his late 60s, had lent Jana a substantial sum and was asking him for a few months to return the money,” Singhal said.
On Friday night, Jana had allegedly called Sarkar over to his house in Belgharia and told him that he would return a part of the borrowed amount.
Another officer in the commissionerate said Jana had hit Sarkar, a resident of Belgharia, on the head with a blunt object and strangled him to death.
“He stuffed the body inside a large trolley bag and locked its main compartment. Jana then booked an app cab for an outstation trip and listed two stops, the first being New Town and the next Egra,” the officer said.
The driver of the cab brought along a friend since he would be going on a long trip. “Jana told the driver that he would first go to New Town to give some books and belongings to a relative,” the officer said.
Jana got off the car near Karigori Bhavan, asking the driver and his friend to wait. “He then walked back to the cab and asked the driver to head towards Egra,” said the officer.
When the car pulled over at a police checkpost in Patashpur in East Midnapore, around 150km from the city, Jana was detained based on statements volunteered by the driver, an officer of the Bidhannagar commissionerate said.
A team from the commissionerate went to Patashpur after the body was found in the trolley bag near a drainage channel behind Karigori Bhavan. “We questioned him at length. Initially, he denied any wrongdoing. Later, he admitted to killing Subodh Sarkar in his rented accommodation,” Singhal said.
Jana apparently told the investigators that he killed Sarkar between 4.30am and 5.30am on Saturday and dumped the body around 8am, an officer said.
Another officer said Sarkar had moved into the rented accommodation in Belgharia around three months ago.
He had allegedly told his landlord that he owned a printing press in Bhubaneshwar, where he spent many years.
The body was discovered after a couple of van-pullers and others became suspicious on seeing blood oozing from the trolley bag.