KOLKATA: The police have arrested four more people allegedly involved in the murder of Ayan Mondal, a 21-year-old app-bike rider who lived in Haridevpur and went missing on Dashami night after he left home to meet his girlfriend. His body was found in a police morgue in Diamond Harbour two days later.
The fresh arrests include the father of Ayan's girlfriend and three friends of her brother, who is a minor. One of the friends, Deepjyoti Sahoo, was arrested from Jajpur in Odisha where he had fled after the incident.
Rahul Roy, another friend, and Sujit Roy, the driver of a mini truck that was used to transport the body from Haridevpur to Magrahat, are the other two arrested. The victim's girlfriend and her mother were arrested and her teenage brother was detained on Friday night.
A local court has sent five of the accused to police custody till October 12.
The sequence of events leading to the murder in the wee hours of Thursday and the subsequent disposal of the body is now almost clear, said DC (Behala) Saumya Roy.
From the probe thus far, it does not appear to be premeditated murder with police claiming that Ayan was hit by his girlfriend's brother with brick after he began assaulting the young woman. "Ayan appears to have been in an inebriated condition and began assaulting the woman for daring to visit pandals without him," an officer said.
They are also probing allegations by Ayan's father that his son was in a relationship with both the girlfriend and her mother and that the affairs were common knowledge in the neighbourhood.
According to police, Ayan's father Amar, a resident of Purba Putiary, had on October 6 reported his son missing. Ayan had left his home around 10.30pm on Dashami. Roy claimed police searched for the missing person and it was during this that they learnt that a body had been recovered from Karimabad, near Katpole, under Magrahat PS on the morning of October 6. The identity of the deceased was eventually established to be that of Ayan.
Amar then lodged a complaint against six members of the family of Ayan's girlfriend for allegedly wilfully committing murder and causing disappearance of his body. A murder case was lodged based on this complaint.
"During probe, it could be learnt that the victim had come to his girlfriend's home around 11pm in an inebriated condition. At that point, she was not present at the house. This annoyed Ayan. When his girlfriend returned, the victim reportedly began to assault her. According to the family members, the victim's mother intervened, and a scuffle took place. Subsequently, the minor brother of the girlfriend entered the house and he, under the instigation of his mother and sister, assaulted Ayan and reportedly hit the victim's head with a brick bat that caused instant death," said DC Roy.
Then, under the instruction of the girlfriend's father who returned home, the brother called up two of his friends - Rahul and Deep - and sought their help to dispose of the body. "They hired a mini truck, telling its driver Sujit that they needed to carry some goods to Magrahat. But, when Sujit realized that it was a dead body, he refused. He was promised a much higher amount - from the initial Rs 2,000 contract - and he eventually agreed," added DC Roy.