‘Their strange behaviour set off alarms in my head’
Times of India | 13 March 2025
12 Around 9.15 pm on Tuesday, two young men booked my cab from Dum Dum Nagerbazar to Nimta-Majherhati More. They were carrying a blue strolley bag and a sack, which they placed in the trunk. Midway through the journey, they offered me extra fare to extend the journey to Muragachha Bridge and asked me to stop on a dark stretch of Kalyani Expressway near a large water body in Ghola Mahishpota.
They lingered around the spot and whispered among themselves. I sensed something was not quite right.
They made me wait for over 10 minutes. When I insisted they let me go, they began arguing. What raised my suspicion was the unusually heavy strolley bag they were carrying.
When I demanded to know what was inside the bag and why they had chosen such a deserted location to stop, they reacted strangely. They immediately turned defensive that further raised my suspicion.
Just then, I spotted a police patrol van from Ghola police station. Seizing the moment, I tactfully signalled the officers to stop. But one of the passengers sensed trouble and fled. But I managed to get hold of the other and a cop who had jumped out of the patrol car helped apprehend him.
The cops then asked the man what was inside the bag. When he kept mum, cops opened the bag. What we saw was a gruesome sight. Inside was a man's lifeless body, his face, throat, and hands tightly wrapped in tape.
In hindsight, what had happened in Kumartuli when two women had tried to dispose another woman's body in a strolley bag may have triggered alarm bells in my mind. The strange behaviour of the duo also alerted me and I just acted instinctively.
Adhikari (36), who helped cops crack the murder of Rajasthan-based businessman Bhaguram Dewasi within hours, spoke to Sanjib Chakraborty