A former neighbour of Nidhir Chandra Kundu, whose decomposed body was found in his apartment in Bijoygarh in south Kolkata on Tuesday morning, has been arrested on the charge of murdering the 67-year-old.
Police said the accused, Subhas Chandra Roy, 59, was from Vidyasagar Colony, not far from Kundu’s Bijoygarh home. Kundu used to stay in a rented apartment in Vidyasagar Colony a few years ago.
Kundu’s body was found wrapped in a polythene sheet under his bed.
A senior police officer said the motive for the murder was not clear. “Roy is claiming Kundu had fallen after an accidental push and died. But that does not explain why he tried to wrap the body in a polythene sheet,” the officer said.
Sources said Kundu’s phone, which was allegedly stolen by the suspect, gave away the suspect’s location in Malda and helped investigators track him down.
“Roy had fled to north Bengal after the incident on Monday. He had the victim’s phone. After the incident, the phone’s tower location was tracked down to Kulpi in South 24-Parganas before the phone was switched off. A day later, the phone was switched on again. This time it was in Malda,” said an officer.
Sources said that from the call records of Kundu’s phone, they found one number whose tower location was the same as the victim’s stolen phone while it was in Malda.
“That number was Roy’s. “We learnt that he was returning to Kolkata on Thursday. He was picked up from in front of his home,” the officer said.