Calcutta, Feb. 17: A peon in his late 30s was murdered last night in the central Calcutta office where he worked and lived.

Employees of the coil manufacturing company’s office on Bentinck Street found the body when they came for work this morning.

Arjun Das was lying in a pool of blood in front of a toilet, his throat slit.

The 700-sq-ft office had been ransacked — documents were strewn on the floor and a glass table and a door pane were smashed — indicating Das had put up a tough fight before being killed, police said.

According to company officials, Rs 10,000 was missing from the accountant’s drawer.

“It appears that the assassin was known to the victim and they spent considerable time together before the incident took place. An almost empty bottle of whisky was found in the office,” said Gyanwant Singh, the police detective chief.

“We have detained another peon, who first saw the body, for interrogation.”

Das, who was from Giridih in Jharkhand, had been working in the office for 10 years.

“He used to stay in office round the clock,” said Nirmal Kumar Bagaria, a director of the company.