Pankaj Pathak had shared a crush on a woman with one of his friends. And that finally led to his murder.

This was revealed by the police on Tuesday, 16 days after the body of the 24-year-old was found floating in a pond in Howrah.

Pankaj, a resident of Thakurdas Ghosh Street, in Belur, went out with his friends to join the Holi revelry on the morning of March 26.

His body was found in the pond in Liluah?s Mir Para, around 2.5 km from his home, the next morning. He was clad only in his underwear.

Police had lodged an unnatural death case, despite family members? allegations that Pankaj had been killed.

Only after the post-mortem identified strangulation as the cause of death was a murder case initiated.

Four of the youth?s friends have been arrested. Additional superintendent of police (town) Laxmi Singh is hopeful that the case will be wrapped up soon.

All those arrested are residents of Liluah. ?One of them, Sekhar, had an affair with a woman, who was later drawn towards Pankaj. This had put Sekhar on the murder path,? said an investigating officer. ?We are trying to dig deeper into the woman?s role in the entire episode.?

During interrogation, the sleuths came across several loose ends in the statements of the four accused.

?If someone drowns, as the four claimed Pankaj did, the body does not generally surface within 24 hours. Pankaj was last seen by his family members around noon on March 26 and the body was found at 6 am the next day,? said the officer.

The four said Pankaj had gone to the pond to take a bath. In which case, his clothes would have been found on the banks. But there weren?t any.

Police later traced his trousers in a garbage vat in Liluah and his shirt and shoes in two other places in the town.

What also made the sleuths suspect the involvement of the four friends in Pankaj?s death was their identical statements. Following separate interrogations, the sleuth claimed their suspicions had been confirmed.