Police on Wednesday morning arrested a physically challenged beggar allegedly for killing a septuagenarian widow at Ichhapur in North 24-Parganas as she apparently refused to pay up the promised Rs 15,000 to the accused to buy a prosthetic leg.

Accused Anjan Chowdhury, 41, was picked up from his Garulia-Leninnagar residence in Noapara on Monday night for interrogation as he was one of the three suspects in the murder of the elderly widow, Sikta Chatterjee, on Sunday night.

The police had zeroed in on the three persons as they used to frequently visit the victim's home.

Anjan broke down during a marathon interrogation on Tuesday night and confessed to having killed Chatterjee on Sunday night, police said.

According to Anjan’s confession, he had visited Chatterjee’s Ichhapur-Natunpara home and slit her throat with a shaving blade. He fled soon after the murder.

“The accused had lost his leg six years ago in a train accident. His plight had pained the woman and she had promised to pay the money required to get him an artificial leg,” a senior police officer of Barrackpore Commissionerate said.

“The accused got acquainted with the deceased nearly a year ago. The elderly woman used to help him with money and promised to give Rs 15,000 for the artificial leg. But she changed her mind about giving him the money after her husband, who had retired from the Metal and Steel Factory, passed away recently," the officer said.

“On Sunday night the accused came with the same appeal for money. She offered him tea but told him of her inability to pay the money. This apparently angered Anjan.”

“During the interrogation, the accused said the woman dealt with him in a harsh manner and that provoked him to kill her,” an investigating officer of Noapara police said.

A neighbour finding the door of her home ajar late on Sunday evening became suspicious and entered the residence to find her lying in a pool of blood. She immediately alerted others, who called the police. The woman was taken to a hospital, where she was declared dead.

The Noapara police began a probe with sniffer dogs and detained three persons who used to visit the elderly woman.

The accused was produced before the ACJM Barrackpore court that ordered him 10 days in police custody.