Police have found the handle of a knife under a tree in south Kolkata, which officers claim was used to stab Bhowanipore resident Ashok Shah to death.
The police have also found a pendant in a money plant pot at a house in Howrah. The item, the police suspect, was stolen from the Shah residence.
Ashok Shah and wife Rashmita were found murdered in their flat on the ground floor of a building on Harish Mukherjee Road on June 6. Shah had multiple stab wounds on him, while Rashmita had a bullet wound in her head.
Five persons have been arrested but the prime suspect is still at large. “Based on the statements of one of the five, we seized the knife handle,” said an officer at Lalbazar.
Sources said cops found the handle on the basis of the statements of Subodh Singh, one of the suspects arrested.
The “white plastic” handle of a knife was found hidden under a tree along the footpath of Ashutosh Mukherjee Road. “The knife’s handle does not have a blade. It appears to have been deliberately removed to destroy evidence,” an officer said.
The other item was found inside a money plant tub hanging from the grille of a window of the first-floor flat of one of the accused — Jatin Mehta.
“We found several ornaments in the money plant pot, but the most outstanding one was a heart-shaped stone-fitted gold pendant with ‘AR’ inscribed on it,” said an officer.
A family friend said Rashmita used to wear the pendant with “AR” inscribed on it.