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A 22-year-old auto-rickshaw driver — who went missing from Chandil, around 25km from Jamshedpur, on Wednesday — was found murdered in Bengal’s Purulia district late on Friday night.
Police suspect that Sumeet Dey, a resident of Olidih in Mango, may have been killed for having an affair with the sister of another auto-rickshaw driver, Sunil Kumar, who was named as the key suspect in the case and is absconding.
On Friday morning, police had detained for interrogation Sunil’s friend Pingua, also an auto-rickshaw driver, whom they suspected to have had a role in Sumeet’s abduction and murder.
East Singhbhum ASP Rajiv Ranjan, who is monitoring investigations into the case personally, said that both Pingua and Sunil had stabbed Sumeet in the stomach with a broken beer bottle. He added that Pingua, during sustained interrogation had broken down and confessed to having killed the youth.
“Pingua admitted that he, along with Sunil Kumar, had lured the victim to neighbouring Bengal’s Purulia district and killed him there,” Singh said.
He added that Pingua was arrested on Saturday morning after he led the police to the spot where Sumeet’s body had been dumped.
“We got in touch with police officers from Purulia who helped us recover the body. After post-mortem, the body has been handed over to the parents of Sumeet — Mahadev Dey and Rekha — who had reached the spot on receiving information. Sumeet was cremated in Purulia,” the ASP said.
Prodded on the modus operandi, Singh said that on Wednesday morning, Pingua lured Sumeet to an isolated place outside Olidih by telling him that Sunil’s sister was waiting for him there.
Though it is not clear how, the assailants then convinced Sumeet to come with them to Purulia, where they supposedly consumed liquor together. After getting the victim drunk, Sunil and Pingua attacked Sumeet with a broken beer bottle, stabbing him multiple times.
“After ensuring that their victim had stopped breathing, the duo fled the scene,” Singh said.
The ASP said that Sumeet and Sunil stayed in the same locality.
“We have cracked the case but are yet to nab the main suspect Sunil Kumar. We hope to arrest him soon,” Singh said, adding Pingua had been forwarded to judicial custody on Saturday evening.
A resident of Deshbandhu Road in Mango’s Olidih, Sumeet had left home around 11am on Wednesday, but never returned. Father Mahadev Dey lodged a missing diary with Olidih police on Thursday.
Around 10am on Friday, anxious family members searching for Sumeet had found the youth’s auto-rickshaw abandoned at Humeed along NH-33.
The area is under the jurisdiction of Chandil police, who were then informed.
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