A 21-year-old college student residing at a tea estate on the outskirts of Birpara in Alipurduar district was hacked to death by two of his friends on Thursday.
The duo, nabbed by the police along with a third person suspected to be their accomplice, had also called up the victim’s father and had demanded a ransom of Rs 10 lakh.
Shahbaz Ali and Ayushman Lohar were having problems with Indradeb Suri over the ownership of a car that Indradeb and Shahbaz had bought together with the plan to put the vehicle on rent.
On Thursday around 9am, Indradeb, a second-year student of Birpara College and son of a grocer in Singhania tea estate, was giving tutoring school students at home when Shahbaz on a two-wheeler asked the former to accompany him to Birpara on an errand.
Ayushman and Jakir Hossain, Shahbaz’s uncle, were in another two-wheeler.
Indradeb did not return home throughout the day, but his family members did not worry. The situation changed around 5.30pm when Indradeb’s father Motilal received a call on his cell phone from an unknown number where the caller demanded a ransom of Rs 10 lakh and threatened to kill his son if he did not pay. Motilal was asked not to inform the police.
Though worried over his son’s safety, Motilal denied paying the amount and told Birpara police.
Police officers immediately jumped into action and soon, they could trace the call that was made from somewhere in Birpara. It was found that Ayushman made the ransom call.
To deflect suspicion, Shahbaz went to Indradeb’s house and told his family that Indradeb was missing.
“He even advised Motilal Suri to file a police complaint and went to the police station. There, our men questioned him but his answers were not satisfactory. Eventually he broke down and admitted they had murdered Indradeb,” said a police officer.
Policemen located Ayushman and Jakir, both Birpara residents, and arrested them and Shahbaz.
During interrogation, they admitted that they had killed Indradeb with a sharp weapon and dumped his body in Khayerbari forest, some 25km from the tea estate.
“A police team went to the spot and recovered the youth’s body and the murder weapon,” added the officer.
Police said that recently, Shahbaz and Indradeb had together bought a car and planned to put it on rent for earnings.
“They had problems over the vehicle’s ownership that led to differences,” a source said.
On Friday, all three were produced at a court here and sent to five days of police custody.
On Friday morning, as the news of the murder spread, some residents rushed to Shahbaz’s house and ransacked it, brought out furniture and set them on fire. The angry mob also tried to torch the house.
A police team brought the situation under control and called up firemen who doused the flames.
“We need to interrogate the trio for more information. We have also posted our men in the tea estate to prevent breach of peace,” said Kuntal Banerjee, additional SP of Jaigaon.