1234 Kolkata: Bhaguram Dewasi's murder by his business partners was premeditated, inspired by crime serials on television and executed with precision, investigators said on Thursday. Police suspect financial dispute was the motive for the crime. Dewasi had reportedly borrowed Rs 8 lakh from the accused two months ago and had refused to repay the amount even after repeated requests, police said.
The Rajasthan businessman's killing was orchestrated by Krishna Pal Singh and his cousin, Karan Singh, who were caught while attempting to dispose of the body in a trolley bag on Kalyani Expressway near Sodepur-Ghola.
Krishna told police he picked up the "modus operandi" from crime serials. "Krishna, who confessed to the murder, claimed to be a regular viewer of Hindi crime shows and that he planned the murder by picking up the techniques shown in serials," an officer said. The Barrackpore Commissionerate detective wing reconstructed the scene on Thursday, when they took Krishna and Karan to the scene of the crime in Girish Park. A Barrackpore court remanded them in seven-day police custody.
The accused plotted the murder a week ago and bought a strolley bag and nylon rope four days before the crime. They bought the sharp weapon, with which Dewasi was killed, from Burrabazar even earlier, right after they fixed a meeting with him to resolve a financial dispute. Dewasi, a resident of Jorwal in Rajasthan, who stayed in a rented house in Burrabazar's Mechua Patti, visited the flat of the accused on Muktaram Babu Street on Tuesday afternoon to pay Rs 65,000 out of the Rs 8 lakh that he owed the two, police said. He borrowed the money two months ago. "Despite repeated requests to clear the debt, Dewasi's offer to repay only Rs 65,000 apparently enraged Krishna. But he remained composed. Instead, he gave Dewasi poison-laced coffee. Once Dewasi fell unconscious, Krishna strangled him with the nylon rope and slit his throat," a senior Barrackpore Commissionerate officer said.
Police suspect the murder occurred between 11.30 am and noon on Tuesday. After killing Dewasi, Krishna called Karan. The duo wrapped the body with cellotape, packed it into a strolley bag, and left it in their flat. In the evening, they returned with a taxi and took the body to Nagerbazar. Around 9.15 pm, they booked an app cab from Nagerbazar to dispose of the body in a deserted area. But the cab driver, Rahul Adhikari, who suspected foul play and dialled 100.
Police recovered Dewasi's body from the trolley bag in the cab's trunk. "We are probing Karan's role as he had claimed to be innocent. We are verifying whether the financial dispute, particularly the alleged Rs 8 lakh debt, was the primary motive," Indra Badan Jha, DCP (Central), Barrackpore Commissionerate told TOI.