56-year-old Jorabagan man found murdered in his rooftop room
Times of India | 1 November 2024
123456 Kolkata: A 56-year-old resident of Sen Lane in Jorabagan area was found dead, with injuries on his head, at his home on Thursday morning.
The victim, Abhijit Banerjee, was a transporter and he used to be an insurance agent earlier, said police, adding that he raised and sold pigeons, too. Banerjee owned a flat at Ahiritola, where he used to live the entire day with his elder sister and a nephew, the son of his late eldest sister. At night, he would return to Jorabagan, where he owned a rooftop room (chilekotha) in a four-storey house, said police, adding that he was found dead in this rooftop room. Banerjee was separated from his wife and his relatives lived on other floors of the Jorabagan building, said a family member.
Initially, DC North Dipak Sarkar told TOI, they were waiting for the postmortem report to ascertain the exact cause of death. "He carries injuries on his head. Both the possibilities, of it being an accident or a homicidal death, are open," Sarkar had said. But by evening, Lalbazar ordered that a murder case be registered, based on a complaint by the victim's sister. Police are also checking if anything was stolen from Banerjee's house.
"The blood-spattered body of Banerjee was found in the rooftop room in Jorabagan. After his sister lodged a complaint at the Jorabagan PS, a case of murder and robbery was registered against unidentified persons," said additional CP (II) Murlidhar Sharma. Police suspect the assailants, if any, fled through the terrace.
An officer said Banerjee owned a car that he rented out often from his Jorabagan residence. "The car was booked for Thursday morning and he had received an advance payment of Rs 1,000. When the driver, Papai, went to get the car keys, he found the rooftop room's door shut, apparently from inside. When Papai failed to get any response, he reportedly called the neighbours. A neighbour, Pramod Gupta, helped the driver open the door to find Banerjee lying motionless, face down," said the officer. "Witnesses said the upper part of Banerjee's body was covered in blood and it looked like he was injured on his head."
After the Jorabagan police station was alerted, homicide branch officers from Lalbazar and a dog squad arrived at the scene, along with DC North Sarkar. The sniffer dog picked up a trail and ran for around 200m towards Beniatola before coming to a halt, said police.
"Abhijit would return to Jorabagan from Ahiritola every night to feed the pigeons. He would sometimes drink alcohol. Again, he would go back to Ahiritola in the morning," said Gupta. "It was around 10:30pm on Wednesday that members of a club saw him buying dinner and returning home."