A jeweller was found dead with his hands and feet tied, and visible injury marks on his body, inside his store in Baranagar on Saturday afternoon.
The victim, Sankar Jana, owned the shop on Shambhu Nath Das Lane, less than a kilometre from the Baranagar police station.
A preliminary investigation suggests murder, with chilling details indicating that the attackers used red chilli powder to overpower him. Police believe he resisted before being throttled.
“He was throttled to death after being overpowered with red chilli powder and a blunt weapon. We are awaiting the post-mortem report,” said a source in the Barrackpore Police Commissionerate.
The crime is suspected to have occurred between 3pm and 4pm on Saturday, a time when the neighbourhood becomes relatively quiet, with several shops shuttered.
Jana’s son, who lives in Delhi, raised the first alarm after noticing that the CCTV cameras linked to his phone had stopped functioning. The attackers had allegedly disabled the cameras.
Based on footage from nearby CCTV cameras, the police suspect the involvement of a gang of at least five people who had conducted a recce of the shop in the days leading up to the attack. “The group posed as customers. Two stayed on guard outside while three entered the store. They disabled the CCTV cameras,” the source said.
The value of the stolen jewellery is still being determined. Barrackpore police commissioner Murlidhar visited the crime scene on Saturday evening.
Bengal has witnessed a disturbing rise in armed attacks on jewellery stores in recent years. On September 18 this year, a gang stormed a jewellery manufacturing unit in Baranagar and assaulted the owner and his staff.
In June 2024, there were two incidents. In Raniganj, armed robbers attempted a daylight heist at a jewellery shop, leading to a gunfight with the police. The robbery bid was foiled. That same month, a group of four looted a jewellery store in Howrah’s Domjur at gunpoint, holding the owner and an employee hostage.
In August 2023, two armed gangs targeted branches of a popular branded jewellery chain almost simultaneously — one in Purulia town and the other in Nadia’s Ranaghat.
Earlier, in May 2023, a jeweller’s son in Barrackpore was murdered by a group of men who had entered the store posing as customers.