Two men were arrested on Monday in connection with the murder of jeweller Sankar Jana, who was found dead inside his Baranagar store in Calcutta on Saturday.
A source said a group of men entered the shop posing as customers, looted valuables, and killed the owner.
Police identified the accused as Sanjoy Maity and Surajit Sikdar.
Maity, a history-sheeter from Beniatola Lane in north Calcutta, had been arrested in connection with an arms case a few weeks ago. Sources said he plotted the crime with a fellow inmate, who is a murder accused, in the Presidency jail.
“We have information that Maity planned the robbery from the jail. Another murder accused was the mastermind. He is still lodged inside the jail,” an officer of Baranagar police station said.
The other inmate who planned the crime is suspected of being involved in a murder at the Amherst Street police station area in 2022.
Maity, who was out on bail, had allegedly come for a recce of the area 10 days before the incident.
Jana was killed and his store robbed on Saturday when men pretending to be clients had entered the store and overpowered him by throwing red chilli powder at his face before throttling him to death. He was also hit with a blunt weapon, a police source said.
The investigators had collected CCTV footage from cameras outside the store to find the men who had carried out the operation.
Sikdar, the other accused, is from Gouri Shankar Ghoshal Lane in Narkeldanga,
Calcutta.
Police officers said a search is on for others accused in the case. It is suspected that at least three others were part of the crime.
Surveillance footage has surfaced, depicting a man standing outside the store with his face concealed by a mask, while others proceeded inside the establishment.
Police said they were yet to ascertain if Maity and his gang members had any old enmity with Jana.
“Whether the victim had any enmity with the accused or if he was killed after he tried to save his store from being robbed is yet to be foundout,” said one of the
investigators.
The arrested duo were produced before a court on Monday and remanded in police custody.