Rtd teacher was murdered, prime suspect son still missing
Times of India | 28 March 2025
Kolkata: The initial post-mortem report of Malabika Maitra (72), a retired teacher from a prominent south Kolkata school, revealed that she was murdered inside her rented accommodation at Vidyasagar Colony near Baghajatin on Wednesday morning.
"The autopsy surgeon indicated that death was due to smothering, and the burns on her body were found to be post-mortem in nature. This indicates the primary cause of death was smothering and not burns," said a cop. The report suggests that the bed on which the woman was smothered, with the help of a pillow that was later found lying on top of her face, was set on fire after the murder, probably to destroy evidence and try to pass the death off as a result of an accidental fire, said police sources.
Post-mortem injuries are those that occur after death and can be distinguished from antemortem (before death) or perimortem (around the time of death) injuries. "We are in the process of registering a murder FIR after receiving this report," said a senior cop.
For the second day in a row, the cops said that Malabika's son, Abhishek Maitra (32), remained untraceable. "We have reasons to believe that he is still alive, unlike his mother. Hence, he continues to be a primary suspect until we can question him," said a police officer.
Cops claimed two fresh developments on Thursday make them suspicious about Abhishek. One, the private bank where he claimed he worked has denied ever employing him, and two, he was found to have transferred Rs 9.5 lakh recently from his mother's account, moments after he changed his mobile phone number.
Cops pointed to three red flags on Wednesday that made Abhishek a suspect besides his prolonged absence. One, the pillow lying on Malabika's face; two, the fact that the house was locked from the outside; and three, that the victim's son changed his mobile phone SIM. "It seems Abhishek lived on the savings of his mother. This might have led to friction between the two," said an officer.
Cops have said that the involvement of others in the murder has not been ruled out yet. "We are looking into local CCTV footage to prepare a list of people who had access to that house between Tuesday evening when Abhishek was last spotted by neighbours and the time the neighbours noticed the fire," said an investigating officer.
The victim was staying at this ground floor rented accommodation with her son Abhishek since 2022, said neighbours. Abhishek, last seen on Tuesday night by neighbours, was "missing", and repeated calls made to him went unanswered. "It seems that he threw away his mobile phone as its location is showing as static. We found that he changed his mobile phone number a week ago," said a police source.
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