A retired railway employee, who used to draw Rs 1 lakh every three months for his bed-ridden wife’s treatment, was found dead in the bathroom after he responded to a door bell early on Saturday morning.

Mohammed Jalil, 65, was found lying on the floor of the bathroom of his two-bedroom flat at Tikiapara’s Harachand Mukherjee Lane in Howrah on Saturday morning. He had withdrawn Rs 1 lakh in cash from a bank and half the money, along with jewellery and a television set, is missing.

Jalil’s wife Zarina, who has been paralysed for the last two years, has told police that a little after midnight two youths had knocked on the main door. Her husband, who was sleeping beside her, had opened the door when the youths barged in, held him and pulled him to the other room. She didn’t know what happened next, police said.

On Saturday morning when Zarina’s physiotherapist — a woman — turned up, she asked her to go to the other room. There she found the almirah open and Jalil missing. On the floor lay a heap of garments, bags and plastic packets suggesting those who ransacked were desperately looking for something and kept pulling out items from the almirah till they found it.

Looking for Jalil, the physiotherapist found him lying dead on the floor of the washroom with his hands behind his head.

The woman then raised an alarm and neighbours called in the police. Fingerprint experts later said there were marks around Jalil’s neck suggesting strangulation.

“It appears that the assassins had been keeping a watch on the family for sometime,” said a Howrah police officer.

Three years ago, Jalil had bought a flat on the top floor of a five-storeyed building at Harachand Mukherjee Lane.

Neighbours said Jalil and his wife used to mostly keep to themselves ever since Zarina became bed-ridden following her paralysis.

“The little that Jalil would talk, it would be always about his wife’s health,” said a neighbour. “Since they did not have any kids, the husband was solely bothered about Zarina’s health.”

Primarily investigators have found that the entrance to the building has a collapsible gate, which has been lying broken for sometime now. There is no CCTV coverage of either the main entrance or the floors. This meant anyone who knew could easily walk up the floors and reach Jalil’s apartment on the top.

“The assassins must have been following the victim every time he went to the bank. They also possibly knew about is wife’s illness,” said an investigating officer. “Obviously, they are local youths.”

Police said the assassins were possibly frustrated that they couldn’t lay their hands on the full amount of Rs 1 lakh and decided to take the television set away. “It’s early into the probe. We are waiting for the post-mortem report,” the officer added.