Kolkata:
Under fire for not being proactive in investigating the shocking murder of two young boys, Kolkata police were reprimanded today by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, sources said. The case will now be investigated by the state CID (Criminal Investigation Department). The opposition BJP demands an investigation from the CBI.
The prime suspect had held a rope in the car with the intent of killing the victims, police said, as to why they suspected premeditated murder.
Two class 10 students, Atanu Dey and Abhishek Naskar, were strangled in a moving car on Aug. 22 and their bodies dumped in a canal on the Basanti Highway near Kolkata. The bodies were finally identified the day before yesterday as they had been taken to the police morgue. The families of the victims question the delay in finding the boys.
The commander of the Baguihati Police Station where the complaint was registered was removed because the families of the two boys complained that the police had not taken their complaint seriously.
Firhad Hakim, the cabinet minister of West Bengal, told reporters: “The OC has now been removed and the investigation of the case has been handed over to the Criminal Investigation Department. The police have been instructed to complete the investigation as soon as possible. bring the main defendant to court and justice as soon as possible.”
While the bodies of the boys were found by the Basirhat police, they were sent as unidentified bodies to the police morgue and remained there until the police arrested a suspect who confessed that the boys themselves had been murdered on August 22. According to sources, this lack of coordination between two police stations has led to the Chief Minister withdrawing the police.
Police have arrested four murder suspects and brought them to court. Abhijit Bose (25), Shamim Ali (20), Sahil Molla (20) and Dibyendu Das, also in their twenties, have been arrested. Two other suspects, including prime suspect Satyendra Chowdhury, have yet to be arrested.
The motive for the kidnapping was reportedly a Rs 50,000 transaction to buy a bicycle, but police say they are looking at other possible motives as well. The suspect and the victims had visited a motorcycle showroom before the murders, police said.
“We had kept all options open when we started our investigation. Meanwhile, they received ransom messages, but they were unable to contact the kidnappers. Because ransom calls were made, we were also very alert and conducted the investigation carefully. make sure there was no untoward incident,” said Biswajit Ghosh of Bidhannagar Police.
Police also said they did not assume the boys had died until one of the arrested suspects confessed to the murder.
“During our investigation, we got a breakthrough when we arrested Abhijit Bose. After Bose was interrogated, he collapsed and confessed that on the 22nd, along with Satyendra and two to three others in the car, he strangled the children on the Basanti Highway between 8pm and 10pm. They have admitted to dropping the two bodies in two different places down the highway,” Mr Ghosh said.
BJP spokesman Samik Bhattacharya called the incident reminiscent of 1980s and 1990s Bihar, known for lawlessness and kidnappings for ransom, depicted in the Hindi film ‘Apharan’.
“In Bengal all those days we have seen the job sale, now will we see an enterprise of kidnapping here? Will there be a film made about it too? This is a very tragic and unfortunate incident. And the police were reluctant to act and take no steps,” said Mr Bhattacharya.