A youth from North 24-Parganas who bought a motorcycle on loan through a finance company was allegedly beaten to death by recovery agents after his downpayment cheque reportedly bounced.

Saddam Hossain, 31, a resident of Chhoto Jagulia of Dattapukur in North 24-Parganas, had visited the showroom of the two-wheeler company in Naihati on Wednesday afternoon, where he was found hanging later in the evening.

Showroom officials claimed he had committed suicide “from shame”. But family members and friends of the deceased alleged that he was beaten to death and later hung as a cover-up.

Naihati police on the basis of a complaint lodged by the victim’s family started a murder case and arrested three persons on Thursday afternoon, showroom owner Rohan Singh and two loan recovery agents, Krishnendu Ghosh and Abhijit Mukherjee.

The trio will be produced in court on Friday.

Police and family sources of the deceased claimed that a fortnight ago, Saddam bought a racing bike for over Rs 1 lakh against a cheque for Rs 45,000 that was discovered to have bounced on Wednesday.

“He was called to the showroom on Wednesday afternoon,” a friend of the deceased said, explaining that the cheque had most likely bounced for technical reasons.

“We have shared with police the audio clips of his call recordings that amply indicate that Saddam was tortured and killed for money,” he added.

Police on Thursday locked the showroom and said the CCTV cameras there were already turned off .

‘Suicide’ over car

Debajyoti Bhattacharjee, 25, of Ghola near Sodepur, allegedly committed suicide on Tuesday night after recovery agents of a finance company who had given him a car loan seized his vehicle as he defaulted on his loan payments.

The youth jumped before a running train. His father lodged a complaint against the finance company.