On his birthday on Saturday night, a youth in Nadia’s Nabadwip allegedly pushed his five-year-old stepbrother into the Hooghly.
The child, born from his mother’s second marriage, is feared drowned. Police and disaster management teams are searching for the upper kindergarten student
Subrata Biswas.
Accused Suman Dutta, 20, a resident of Guptipara in Hooghly, has gone into hiding. CCTV footage shows him escaping, his face masked.
Relatives alleged Suman was influenced by his father, Mohan Dutta, his mother’s first husband, who instilled hatred in the youth for his mother Bandana Biswas for marrying her second husband Jaideb Biswas.
They claim this led Suman to commit the crime.
Jaideb has lodged a murder complaint against both Suman and Mohan Dutta. Police have launched an investigation, but neither of them has been arrested so far.
According to police and local sources, Suman arrived on Saturday evening at his mother Bandana’s present residence in Kapalipara village of Charmajdia-Charbrahmanagar Panchayat in Nabadwip.
Subrata’s maternal aunt, Chaina Biswas, said: “Suman kept in touch with his mother and visited her regularly. When he arrived on Saturday evening, we had no idea he had an ulterior motive.”
Family sources said it was Suman’s birthday and he proposed buying a cake. He suggested taking his stepbrother Subrata to the market with him.
“We had no reason to doubt his intentions. So we allowed Suman to pick up Subrata from his private tutor’s home and go to the market for the cake. Suman took Subrata from the tutor’s home around 8pm. When they didn’t return by 9.30pm, we started searching for them. That’s when a boatman told us that my son had been pushed into the river by a youth who managed to escape,” said Jaideb.
Police said Suman took Subrata on a boat ride to Nabadwip, crossing the Bhagirathi River. While returning, he pushed the child into the water just before the boat reached the jetty. Some passengers alerted the boatmen, but before they could react, the child was swept away by the river in the darkness.
Bandana blamed her first husband for the tragedy. “I left him years ago as he tortured me. He has always threatened to teach me a lesson. He poisoned Suman’s mind. I never imagined my son would take revenge this way,” she said.