Mahendra Varma outside the front door of the apartment of his brother Ramprasad, on Kings Road, Howrah. Ramprasad and his wife Sunita Devi were found dead in their flat on Sunday night. Picture by Gopal Senapati

A middle-aged couple were found dead in their apartment on Howrah’s Kings Road on Sunday night, with a nylon rope tied around their necks. Bloodstains were seen below the woman’s eyes.

The post-mortem report, a senior officer said, has stated that Ramprasad Varma, 54, and Sunita Devi, 50, were strangled, with the woman also being hit in the eyes with a heavy object.

“Both Ramprasad and Sunita Devi weighed more than 100kg. We suspect at least three to four people were involved, otherwise the couple could not have been pinned down and strangled,” said the officer.

Deputy inspector-general of police (presidency range) Soumen Mitra, however, said the sleuths were not yet sure whether the Varmas had committed suicide or were murdered. “Evidence found in the flat points to both. A murder case has been registered. We are waiting for the post-mortem report.”

Forensic experts have collected samples, including an iron bolt in the room where the bodies were found and some leftover food, from the third-floor apartment. A person has been detained for interrogation.

“Nothing was missing from the house,” said an investigating officer.

Neighbours last saw the couple while they were talking to their milkman around 7pm on Saturday.

The Varmas had been living in the flat for the past 19 years. Ramprasad had a shop in the AC Market on Dobson Road, which he had leased out for Rs 7,000 a month. He also had a flat in Vivek Vihar, on GT Road, he had rented out.

The couple’s two sons, Sandip and Abhishek, live in Mumbai. Sandip called his parents several times on Saturday night and Sunday morning but neither picked up the phone.

Alarmed, he requested uncle Mahendra Varma, who lives in the same Kings Road neighbourhood, to visit his parents.

Mahendra rushed to the flat but found it locked. “No one was answering the doorbell. I thought they had gone to the Kalighat temple, which they often visited. I kept coming to the flat throughout the day but it was always locked,” recalled Mahendra.

Around 9pm, he noticed that the airconditioner was on and sensed something was amiss. “I called the police, who came around 11pm and entered the flat through a window. The bodies were found on a sofa in the living room,” said Mahendra.

The couple did not mix with their neighbours much. Byasmuni Ojha, who knew the couple, said Ramprasad lived a simple life and did not have any enemy.