A six-year-old boy was found dead under mysterious circumstances at his home in Hooghly district with family members on Friday claiming that he was throttled by a gang of burglars before decamping with valuables.

Nabo Biswas the father of Nikhil Biswas told police that he suspected his son was throttled to death by unidentified miscreants who intruded into their Chandannagar house when his wife went out to escort their daughter from the adjacent primary school without locking the door on Wednesday afternoon.

Nikhil was sleeping on bed alone in the first-floor room when she left to bring his sister home.

When the woman returned with her daughter, she found her son lying on bed. As Nikhil did not respond to calls, the family with neighbours rushed him to a nearby hospital where he was declared brought dead, a senior police officer said.

Nabo Biswas on Friday said "We found Rs 50,000 in cash and ornaments missing from the almirah. As my wife and daughter did not see anyone when they arrived, it seems a gang intruded into our house finding it empty, came upstairs and before looting the valuables in a few minutes smothered my son to death so that he did not wake up and raise an alarm." The police officer said they are waiting for the autopsy report and talking to everyone – the parents, the boy's sister and neighbours – to know the circumstances behind the death.

The CCTV footage around the building is also being examined to ascertain if any gang intruded into the house and indulged in burglary, the officer added.

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