A 35-year-old man died on Saturday after allegedly being beaten up by some of his colleagues, who accused him of stealing Rs 450 from one of them, police said.
Amit Ranjan Chattopadhayay was taken to MR Bangur Hospital by his colleagues, where he was declared dead. The colleagues allegedly tried to pass him off as someone unknown to them, whom they had spotted lying on a road with injuries.
After Amit was declared dead, the colleagues allegedly tried to run away. Cops posted at the hospital got hold of one of them, who was later identified as Somnath Chakrabarty.
“Following hours of interrogation, Somnath admitted to the crime and gave the names of two of his colleagues — Suman Mondal and Debasish Adhikari. They were later arrested,” said an officer of Regent Park police station.
“It appears the three were among those who had attacked Amit on Saturday afternoon. All three have been booked for culpable homicide not amounting to murder, under Section 304 of the Indian Penal Code. We are trying to find out whether anyone else was involved in the crime,” the officer said.
The police said Amit, originally from Birbhum, had been working for a finance company for over three years. Suman Mondal, one of the accused arrested, owns the company.
On Saturday, the three accused and a few others had gathered at the office in Nehru Colony of Regent Park apparently to find out from Amit about a sum of money that was missing.
“A sum of Rs 450 was from missing from Debasish Adhikari’s account and he suspected that Amit had stolen it. It appears the accused and a few others assaulted Amit to recover the amount,” the officer said.
Amit suffered injuries on both his arms and on his chin. Possibly after Amit passed out, the men dragged him out of the office and left him on the road in front of the main entrance.
Investigators said Suman wanted to pass off Amit as someone unknown to him, who was lying on the road before he picked him up and took him to the hospital in his car.
“We are awaiting the post-mortem report. It will reveal vital clues about the exact cause of the death,” the officer said.
“We also want to know whether it was just the stolen amount that led to the fatal attack or some other grudge played a role,” the officer added.