Palpara (Nadia), March 8: Around 5,000 chickens were roasted alive when residents set fire to a poultry farm this morning, holding its owner Shankar Saha responsible for last night’s murder of two farm employees.

The residents also set ablaze a private car and a lottery shop owned by Saha near Krishnagar railway station.

The crowd turned irate after the mutilated bodies of Animesh Chandra, the poultry’s manager, and Asit Bhowmik, a worker, were recovered from the farm’s premises.

Saha was arrested from his Krishnagar residence this morning and four persons were detained.

Police suspect Saha had engineered the murders after the two came to know of “a number of secrets about his personal life as well as shady business deals”.

Animesh and Asit were enjoying a drink when a group of assailants, armed with weapons, arrived on motorcycles at the farm around midnight. The farm is situated on National Highway 34, about 85 km from Calcutta.

“The road through which the miscreants came was deserted at that time. They knocked on the farm’s door. When it was opened, they began hurling abuses on the duo. An altercation followed and the assailants assaulted them. After murdering the two, they chopped off their limbs and threw them into a nearby paddy field and fled,” a police official said.

Saha contacted Kotwali police station this morning after discovering the two bodies and the police sent them for post-mortem.

As news of the murders spread, residents gathered outside the farm and set it ablaze. Two fire engines were rushed to the spot from Krishnagar. But they could not save the chickens.

A police contingent led by district superintendent of police Benoy Chakraborty reached the site soon after and brought the situation under control. However, Saha’s car and lottery shop had been gutted by then.

Ashim Chandra, Animesh’s brother and a local trader, said: “My brother was on night duty. He died, perhaps, because he was aware of Saha’s illegal activities.”

Police said Saha was wanted in four other criminal cases, including two murders. “Saha tried to prove his innocence by conveying the information of (the) murders to the police station. However, we have sufficient reasons for arresting him. We have also detained a few others who are expected to help us nab the assailants,” Chakraborty said.

Deploring the subsequent arson, the district police chief said some hooligans were involved. “We have started a separate case in this connection, but are yet to make any arrests,” he said.