He was 60 and she was 20 when they met in January 2005.

On Valentine’s Day that year, Anirban Roy (name changed), a businessman in central Calcutta, gifted a new black Honda City to his girlfriend, a sex worker in Sonagachhi. Five months later, he died of a heart attack.

Roy had bought the car on a loan from UCO Bank’s New Market branch. The bank sent letters to his house in November 2005 after the loan EMI was not paid. Unaware that her husband had bought a Honda City, Roy’s wife lodged a complaint with police, alleging harassment by the bank.

As if that was not enough, the same month, the widow received a couple of letters from Calcutta Police’s traffic department, asking her to pay a fine for traffic rule violations by the car. She again contacted the police, saying that her husband had never bought a Honda City.

The cops then approached the bank and asked it to furnish the details. Officers of the motor theft section of the detective department were alerted. After a two-year hunt, the car was finally traced to Sonagachhi last week.

“The matter got complicated due to the death of the businessman. He had provided his address to the bank while buying the car, but it was being used by the sex worker,” explained Samir Kumar Gupta, officer-in-charge of New Market police station.

“We have handed over the car to the widow and asked her to clear the bank dues,” he added.

According to an investigating officer, the sex worker had employed a driver for the car.

“Even she was in the dark about the businessman’s death. During interrogation, she told us that he used to visit her twice a week and they were in love. Initially, she and the brothel-owner refused to hand over the car to us,” he said.

The businessman was very popular with the sex workers for offering expensive gifts. “It was the first time a client had gifted something so expensive to a sex worker. It was a big surprise for us,” a sex worker told the investigators.