A former driver of the Chowdhurys has been arrested for allegedly murdering 91-year-old Renuka Chowdhury at her apartment in a Shakespeare Sarani high-rise in south-central Kolkata.
Police said the accused — Doodh Kumar — had entered the house on Monday evening on the pretext of meeting Chowdhury. He allegedly hid under her bed till close to midnight, when he smothered her to death. Kumar allegedly fled with Chowdhury’s ornaments and two mobile phones.
The police said footage of CCTV cameras installed at the 11-storey Ganga Jamuna — the victim stayed with her younger son Abhay at an apartment on the 9th floor — showed Kumar entering the building in the evening. He is seen coming out minutes past midnight.
Kumar, the police said, had scaled the boundary wall at the rear of the building to leave the premises and boarded a shuttle cab.
He was detained late on Tuesday and arrested hours later on Wednesday.
“Kumar had run into huge debts and was badly in need of money. He had mortgaged a scooter and needed money to get it back,” said an officer.
He had allegedly stolen the Chowdhurys’ ornaments when he worked for them. The family then terminated his service.
“He had visited the Chowdhurys’ apartment at least twice before he killed the elderly woman,” the officer said.
Investigators learnt that Kumar was introduced to Chowdhury’s younger son Abhay, a chartered accountant, through one of his employees.
Ganga Jamuna on Shakespeare Sarani on Wednesday. Pradip Sanyal
He was hired as a driver in 2018. But later, when the family stopped using their car, he continued to work in the Chowdhury apartment as a help to Renuka Chowdhury’s husband. Her husband passed away recently.
“During that period, Renuka Chowdhury had spotted Kumar resting on the floor and her gold ornaments were lying near him. It was found that he had stolen the jewellery from her cupboard. His service was then terminated,” an officer said.
Since then, Kumar had been doing odd jobs and was recently engaged as a driver by a businessman in the city.
The police said Kumar had gone to Ganga Jamuna on Sunday on the pretext of exchanging Diwali greetings with the Chowdhurys.
“He had met Abhay Chowdhury and told him that he was passing by and dropped in to ask after the family,” an officer said.
Kumar allegedly dropped into the apartment on Monday morning, too, on the pretext of meeting the elderly woman.
Abhay has told the police that Kumar was in their apartment when he was leaving for office on Monday morning. When he returned, he checked with their domestic help and learned that Kumar was gone.
“It is yet to be ascertained if anyone in the house was working in connivance with Doodh Kumar. He had slipped under the bed of Renuka Chowdhury and stayed there till everyone else in the house had gone to sleep,” said an officer.
The police took Kumar to Ganga Jamuna on Wednesday to try and reconstruct the sequence of the events on Monday night.
He was produced in court and remanded in police custody.