After interacting with the family members, Banerjee said it was a pre-planned murder and the police will take strong action against the accused persons.

“I have cut short my visit and come here after learning about the murder. The person who was killed was a very simple person who ran a pharmaceutical business. His business partner called him to his residence and mercilessly killed him,” said Banerjee.

She added, “The family had lodged a missing complaint on Monday evening. The police made continuous efforts to solve the case and arrested the persons who committed the murder. I have no words for the bereaved family. It was a pre-planned murder and those who have committed this are bigger criminals than the usual definition of a criminal.”

The chief minister was scheduled to hold a meeting at Siliguri in north Bengal later on Wednesday but cut short her visit to meet the family of the businessman.

Meanwhile, Kolkata Police have arrested two people — Anirban Gupta and Suman Das — in connection with the murder. Gupta is Lakhani’s business partner and owed him a large sum of money and Das is Gupta’s aide.

Banerjee said police will take strong action against the culprits and informed that the homicide section of the Kolkata police have taken over the investigation from Nimta police.

The murder

Bhavya Lakhani, who lived in the Bhowanipore area (Banerjee’s constituency), was found in a jute sack beneath a water tank at Gupta’s residence in Nimta, North 24 Parganas district.

According to the police, the body was found during a raid at Gupta’s house, which was prompted by suspicions from neighbours who noticed sudden construction activities around the tank on the terrace. According to the police, Gupta had put up walls on four sides to hide the body underneath the water tank at his terrace.

The investigation

Following interrogation after his arrest, both Das and Gupta confessed to striking Lakhani on the head with a cricket wicket during a heated argument on Monday morning at Gupta’s residence, and subsequently concealing the body in a jute sack.

Kolkata Police Commissioner Vineet Goyal, who accompanied Banerjee to the house of the businessman, told mediapersons, “On Monday, we received a missing complaint from his family and soon we started our investigation into the murder. We tracked Anirban Gupta with whom he was last seen and brought him to the police station. Gupta’s associate Suman Das who was also present at his house when the crime was committed, was brought in for interrogation as well. It was Das who first confessed to the crime and later when he was made to sit face-to-face with Gupta, the latter also confessed to the crime.”

According to Goyal, it was a pre-planned murder as Gupta had asked Lakhani to visit his house on that day to talk about the money he owed him. “A post-mortem has been conducted. We are awaiting the reports. Preliminary investigation reveals that it was a pre-planned murder. The investigation is on,” said Goyal.

Forensic tests revealed that the deceased had been subjected to physical assault, with visible injury marks on the body, including the head. Sources said, Gupta had bought cricket bats and wickets prior to the visit of Lakhani to his residence. It was also learnt that Gupta, after murdering Lakhani, distributed the cricket bats among the local children which too raised suspicion.