The decomposed bodies of an elderly man and his son and school-going grandson were found in their Baranagar home on Sunday morning.
All three bodies had injury marks and the collapsible gate of the house had a lock that was put from outside, police said.
The three — Shankar Halder, 81, Abhijit, 51, and Debarpan, 15 — suffered most of the injuries on their head and neck, the cops said.
A senior officer of the Barrackpore Police Commissionerate said they have started a murder case.
The bodies were found in a two-storey house where Shankar Halder, a former employee of Baranagar Municipality, lived with Abhijit and Debarpan. The police said Shankar had lost his wife a few years ago and Abhijit was separated from his wife. Debarpan was a Class IX student.
Residents of Neelranjan Sen Nagar, where the Halders lived, were alerted on Sunday morning by a stench that was emanating from the house and got in touch with the
police.
A team from Baranagar police station went to the spot and broke the lock on the collapsible gate. The police then broke open the main door and entered the ground floor of the house, where the bodies were lying.
“There was a lot of blood at the spot. All three bodies were lying on the floor. There were injury marks on the head and neck of all three. The air-conditioner, TV set and the fan in the room were on,” said a member of the investigating team.
The police said CCTV cameras were installed in the house but the DVRs of the cameras could not be located.
Abhijit’s sister Tapasi Adhikari said she had last spoken to the family last Tuesday.
“Everything appeared normal that day. I called them next on Thursday but my brother’s phone was switched off and calls to my father’s phone went unanswered,” Tapasi said.
Sunday being Poila Baishakh, Tapasi was planning to visit the family when someone in the neighbourhood called to inform her about the deaths.
“My brother was deeply disturbed as his marriage had failed. But he was hopeful that his wife would come back. He used to take care of our elderly father and his son at the same time. I cannot even think that he could cause any physical harm to any of them,” she said.
Krishna Majhi, who cooked for the family, said she had last come to work on Thursday. After that every time she went to the house, she found it looked. Majhi said she thought the family had gone on a vacation.
Abhijit ran a stationery store on the ground floor of the house. “The store had been closed for a month. Abhijit had planned to reopen it on Poila Baishakh (Sunday),” said a source close to the family.