Brothers ‘planned’ trader murder due to victim's delay in returning the money he took
Telegraph | 15 March 2025
The two brothers arrested for the murder of Burrabazar businessman Bhagaram Debasi had meticulously planned the killing after they learnt the trader would return just a fraction of the amount he had borrowed from them, police sources said on Thursday.
A nylon rope and a blue trolley bag were purchased as a part of the plan to kill Debasi and dump his body in a water body, officers interrogating Karan Singh, 35, and Krishpal Singh, 19, arrested for the murder, said on Thursday.
When Debasi turned up at a godown in Girish Park on Tuesday afternoon to meet the brothers and return ₹65,000, the cousins murdered him, police said.
“Of the outstanding ₹8 lakh since last Diwali, Debasi had told the two he would return ₹65,000 the day he met them. The cousins felt it was too little too late. They planned to murder Debasi, and all necessary arrangements were made,” said an officer interrogating the duo in police custody.
Karan was arrested near a water body on Kalyani Expressway on Tuesday night after the driver of an app cab the two hired to transport the body in a trolley bag raised the alarm.
Younger brother Krishpal had returned to their rented accommodation on Muktaram Babu Street, off College Street, and was arrested.
The two were produced before a court in Barrackpore on Wednesday and remanded in police custody for seven days.
In a reconstruction of how Debasi was murdered, interrogators have learnt that Krishpal tried slitting the trader’s throat after he fell unconscious while sipping coffee spiked with sedatives. When he realised he wouldn’t be able to slit Debasi’s throat, he asked Karan to fetch the plastic rope they had purchased. Debasi was strangled using the rope, they said.
“The two then decided to cover the head and the neck in a plastic packet. When they couldn’t find one that would accommodate the head, they chose to wrap it with tapes they use to pack cartons of garments,” the officer said.
“After stuffing the body in a trolley bag, Krishpal’s plan was that they would step out for their respective day’s work. Both have marks on their hands suggesting they had pulled the nylon rope very hard.”
Before dumping the trolley bag with Debasi’s body in a water body, Krishpal and Karan had planned they would take the ₹65,000, the officer said.
“Krishpal wasn’t even bothered that his cousin had been caught by the app cab driver and the police would arrive soon to arrest him. He walked across the road talking on his mobile phone, boarded an app cab he had booked for his return trip and went to Muktaram Babu Street from Sodepur, unfazed about the fate of Karan,” the officer said.
Senior officers, stunned at how Krishpal went about doing his job for the day after murdering Debasi, have decided to check his criminal antecedence in Rajasthan.