The mobile call details of a man Bhavya Lakhani was scheduled to meet on Monday to collect his dues gave away the location of his suspected killer.
Lakhani did not always share his day’s plan with his family but this time he did. He was about to see his associate Anirban Gupta.
Gupta has been arrested along with an alleged accomplice, Suman Das, in connection with Lakhani’s murder.
The Telegraph spoke to officers at Lalbazar to try and figure out how the case was cracked.
Initial suspect
Lakhani’s family lodged a missing complaint with Ballygunge police station on Monday. On Monday evening, the police found his cellphone in north Calcutta’s Sovabazar.
Once there is suspicion of something amiss, the police usually first detain the person who may have last seen or been with a possible victim.
So, the cops reached Gupta’s rented apartment in Nimta, in North 24-Parganas.
A Lakhani family member said on Wednesday morning, hours after the body was found, that they told the police that Bhavya was scheduled to meet Gupta.
Gupta was questioned but he denied knowledge about Lakhani’s whereabouts. “He claimed ignorance. He said Lakhani met him and left. There was no way to prove him wrong unless we had some evidence,” said an officer.
The apartment block in Bhowanipore where the Lakhanis live on the top floor.
Alleged accomplice
Police sources said the first lead came from the call details of Gupta’s mobile phone. “A number was found where Gupta had made multiple calls on Monday around the time Lakhani had gone to meet him. The number was traced to Suman Das, a resident of Jorabagan (also in north Calcutta),” said an investigator.
As the police started analysing the pattern of calls made to and from Das’s cellphone, they found that at one point, his phone’s tower location was close to the place in Sovabazar from where Lakhani’s phone was recovered.
Arrest
An officer said Das became a “suspect” as his phone’s tower location matched that of Lakhani’s phone.
Das was picked up on suspicion and taken to Ballygunge police station on Tuesday. Calcutta police commissioner Vineet Goyal said Das was the first to break down and admit his alleged involvement in the crime.
However, even after this, the police were unable to track the whereabouts of Lakhani as Gupta, who was already in police detention, was “not cooperating”.
Admission
Das and Gupta were made to sit face to face and grilled when both are said to have broken down and admitted to have killed the businessman.
They also allegedly tried to divert police attention by planting Lakhani’s phone in a different location. Gupta’s statement led the police to the terrace of his house in Nimta and smash a brick wall, behind which he had allegedly hidden Lakhani’s body in a gunny bag.
The seizures
The chief public prosecutor in the Alipore court, Sourin Ghoshal, said cricket bats, stumps, bricks, rope and foreign currency were among the items seized from the accused.
