A policeman stands guard in front of the house of the deceased in Bhagalpur on Sunday. Picture by Amit Kumar

Bhagalpur, June 26: Twenty-four hours after the murder of a businessman, cops are clueless about his assailants. Heavy rain made their task tougher, as it washed away most of the evidence.

The trader, Bimlendu Kumar Gupta (62), was murdered yesterday. His wife, Sunita Devi (55), sustained serious injuries when she tried to shield her husband from the assailants at their Kutchery Chowk residence.

Sunita was admitted to Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College and Hospital. She was later referred to Patna Medical College and Hospital, where her condition is said to be serious.

Bimlendu ran a business of distilled water and batteries at Barari Industrial Area.

The police said heavy rain destroyed majority of the evidence. “Our only hope now is from the forensic team from Patna,” a junior police officer said.

Amit Kumar Jain, the deputy inspector-general of police of Bhagalpur zone, visited the spot and said a forensic team from the state headquarters would reach soon to investigate the matter.

Jain has assigned Lallan Kumar Das, the officer-in-charge of Tilkamanjhi police station, as the investigating officer of the case.

The police appear to be clueless on the motive of the businessman’s murder.

Deputy superintendent of police (headquarters) Sheela Irani said: “We are puzzled because we do not have any clue to suggest that the assailants had come for robbery. All the doors of the house were locked from inside. The couple were sleeping in their room. Their daughter, Kavita Sree, was sleeping in an adjacent room. Their son, Amiya Sree, was sleeping in a room on the first floor of the house.”

Amiya told the police his sister raised an alarm around 3.40am on Saturday on finding their parents lying in a pool of blood.

The police said mystery shrouded the entry of the assailants. They are also puzzled by the fact that nobody in the house heard anything.

Besides the victim, Amiya, Kavita, Sunita and Balmukund Singh, a manager of Bimlendu, were inside the house during the murder.

The police suspect the assailants scaled the boundary walls to escape after murdering Bimlendu. The sniffer dogs initially went towards the boundary wall. But then they lost the plot.

Bimlendu’s neighbours said some old family feud could be the reason behind his murder. One of them said: “We always tried to avoid Gupta because of his ill-temper.”

The victim’s family members refused to comment on the issue.