Manish Agarwal, the Dum Dum youth who was found murdered in Dhapa, had received three text messages on his cellphone on February 21, the day he went missing.

“The messages, sent by one of his friends, came minutes before Manish switched off his phone,” said an investigating officer.

The texts were deleted from the “inbox” of Manish’s phone and the “sent” box of his friend’s. But with help from the service provider, the sleuths managed to trace the friend, who lives in Kalindi.

“He initially denied having known Manish but later admitted to their friendship. He said both he and Manish were involved in stock trading,” the officer added.

Manish’s family denied that the 24-year-old was ever involved in stock trade.

“We will send the SIM card for forensic test. Certain clues have emerged and we are digging deep into them. Some of the leads are related to Manish’s personal life,” said an officer of the Criminal Investigation Department.

The sleuths are also probing the youth’s link with a man who owned a resort in Rajarhat two years ago and now lives in Bangalore. “We need to know why Manish had stopped attending his tutorial class in Lake Gardens. The answer may hold a clue to his murder,” the officer added.

Manish, who was preparing for his CA finals, was last seen leaving a Camac Street office where he was conducting an audit as part of his articleship around 5.30pm on February 21.

“He was in a hurry and had switched off his phone an hour before, after speaking to sister Ritu, mother Rekha and two friends. He told his mother he would return home after attending his coaching class,” an officer said.

The family lodged a missing persons diary on February 21 night. His father Shankarlal Agarwal met home secretary Prasad Ranjan Ray and senior police officers the next day.

The body was found on February 28, a week after he went missing. A police team rushed to Dhapa after being informed about the corpse by a farmer.