Two men have been arrested in Ekbalpore in connection with the murder of city trader Saif Khan who was found dead in Jharkhand’s Jamtara on Tuesday.

Based on inputs shared by Mihijam police in Jamtara, under whose jurisdiction Khan’s body was found, Calcutta police detained the two men on Saturday morning. They were later handed over to Jamtara police for formal arrest and court production.

The arrested were identified as Mohammad Aftab Alam and Nazre Alam, police said.

Aftab, a resident of Suresh Sarkar Road in Beniapukur, is a garments trader. Nazre works as a driver and drove the vehicle in which Khan was allegedly kidnapped, the police said.

“Preliminary investigation suggests that Aftab Alam had taken a loan of Rs 15 lakh from Saif Khan, which he could repay only partially. Khan was allegedly humiliating Aftab over a period of time for not returning the money, while according to Aftab, he was unable to pay because of the losses he had incurred in business during the pandemic,” an officer said.

The police said Khan had purportedly made multiple calls to Aftab on Tuesday evening — the day Khan went missing — demanding the money. Aftab had offered Khan a lift in his brother-in-law’s Honda Mobilio from Ripon Street to Ekbalpore, where he promised to repay the loan.

“According to the accused person’s statement, he had told the victim that he was going to get some money in Ekbalpore with which he would repay the loan. However, when the victim boarded the vehicle, he was offered a bottle of beer laced with sedatives,” the officer added.

Khan had passed out in the car. Hours later, when they reached Jamtara, he was murdered and his body was thrown on the road.

The police said Aftab had used his brother-in-law’s vehicle for the operation. The car was tracked through CCTV footage at the toll plaza of the Vidyasagar Setu.

After the execution, Aftab had returned to Calcutta in the same car through the same route.

Driver Nazre had returned home after dropping Aftab and keeping the car in the garage of its owner.

Nazre, who was apparently not aware about the murder plan, has also been booked under charges of murder and criminal conspiracy apparently for not raising an alarm when the incident happened or for not reporting it to the police.

Both were produced before a court on Saturday and handed over to Jamtara police on transit remand.