A special investigation team (SIT) was set up on Monday to probe the murders of two hoteliers — Durgapur’s Rajesh Jha a.k.a. Raju and Asansol’s Arvind Bhagat — after initial investigation hinted at the involvement of professional killers from Jharkhand in both.
The SIT has four police officers each from East Burdwan and Asansol-Durgapur Police Commissionerate.
While Jha,55, who owned a luxury hotel in Durgapur town, was gunned down on Saturday evening on thehighway at Shaktigarh near Burdwan, Bhagat, 50, was shot dead by two assailants at his hotel in Asansol on February 17.
Jha was supposed to be interrogated by the ED in Delhi on Monday in a coal smuggling case.
Shaktigarh police on Sunday night filed an FIR and started a case of murder onthe basis of a written statement filed by Sheikh Noor Hossain, who was the driver of the SUV in which Jha was murdered. Though the police had initially started the probe, the case was handed over to the SIT after it was formed on Monday.
Soon after SIT was formed, the team reached Jharkhand after getting a tip-off that the killers in both cases had come from the neighbouring state.
A police officer in Asansol said professional killers from Jharkhand had been hiredto carry out the murders, which cops suspect were the fallouts of rivalry as the two hoteliers allegedly had links with coal smuggling, scrap iron trade as well as illegal money lending.
Jha had alleged links with coal smuggling.
Bhagat was allegedly involved in scrap iron trade and illegal moneylending.
As part of its probe, the SIT visited Jha’s hotel at City Centre in Durgapur, spoke to the employees and collected CCTV footage from there.
Police said CCTV footage showed Jha, and two persons, Abdul Latif and Bratin Mukherjee, leaving the hotel on Saturday and getting into the SUV with two big leather bags. However, after Jha was murdered near the Shaktigarh Lyangcha Hub, a place for sweets and refreshments, Latif and the bags were missing.
Latif, who is believedto enjoy the proximity of Birbhum Trinamul chief Anubrata Mondal, is a prime accused in the cattle-smuggling case and has been named in the CBI chargesheet. According to the CBI, Latif is an absconder.
While interrogating employees at Jha’s hotel, the police came to know that Latif had been staying at the property since last year. The CBI named him in its chargesheet soon after Mondal’s arrest last August. After the CBI failed to arrest Latif, he was declared an absconder.
Hassan told the police that he picked up his employer Latif from Illambazar in Birbhum around 1pm on Saturday and came to Durgapur from where Mukherjee boarded the car.
“They later went to Jha’s hotel, picked him up and left around 6pm. They were headed for Calcutta,” said a police officer, quoting the driver of the SUV. The driver told the police that three assailants fired at Jha from point-blank range around 7.30pm at Shaktigarh. These three and another person in the driver’s seat were in a blue car. Police found the car abandoned near Palsit toll plaza later.
Sources said Jha and Latif were to travel to Delhi on Sunday. Police have collected details of mobile calls made to Jha on Saturday. They, however, found three CCTV cameras at Shaktigarh Lyangcha Hub defunct.
