Two “close relatives” of a murdered Gujarati couple were arrested on Thursday morning for their alleged involvement in the killings in the high-security Bhowanipore area of south Kolkata, a senior police officer said.
The duo were picked up from an undisclosed location in the city suburbs on Wednesday night and arrested on Thursday morning after night-long grilling, he said. “After scrutinising CCTV footage and speaking to kin of the murdered couple, we have arrested two people. Apart from this duo, three-four more people are suspected to be behind the killings, including the mastermind who is understood to be a close relative of the deceased. Hopefully, we will arrest them soon,” the officer said.
Asked about the motive behind the murder, he said there was definitely a “financial dispute” involved. “Although the actual dispute is yet to be ascertained, an investigation has revealed the murder was planned in the last 7-10 days. It seems a contract killer was hired for the murders,” he said.
Businessman Ashok Shah and his wife, Rashmita, were found dead in their flat on Harish Mukherjee Road, an area considered to be a high-security zone because of its proximity to West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s residence. The post-mortem revealed that they were killed between noon and 3 pm on Monday.
Gold ornaments worn by the deceased woman and several thousand rupees in cash have also gone missing from the house although the police said the “loot” was a deliberate act to mislead the investigation. Mamata had visited the flat on Wednesday afternoon after returning from her two-day trip to north Bengal. She had spoken to the deceased’s younger daughter and other family members and assured them of all kinds of assistance.