Calcutta, Jan. 21: A 25-year-old domestic help was found with his throat slit in an Alipore flat on Thursday morning when his employers were away in Vrindavan.

Wrapped in a blanket, Sikandar Yadav’s body was lying on a sofa-cum-bed in a room of real estate developer Madan Mohan Goenka’s 2,000sqft flat when the secretary of the housing complex used a duplicate key to enter the apartment, police said.

A murder case was registered at Alipore police station based on the available evidence — a deep cut on Sikandar’s throat, a fresh scar on his right cheek and bloodstains on the bedspread.

The rest of the room on the fourth floor of the South Tower — Divine Bliss housing complex has two G+8 towers — looked untouched. “It does not seem to be a murder for gain. The victim might have known his killer,” said joint commissioner of police (crime) Damayanti Sen.

The body was found after the Goenkas’ family priest, who visits the Judges Court Road apartment twice a day to offer prayers, kept ringing the doorbell but received no response.

Priest Prem Chand Misra told the police that he had last met Sikandar during his previous visit to the apartment on around 8pm on Wednesday.

“I suspected something was amiss when Sikandar didn’t open the door in the morning despite my ringing the doorbell repeatedly. I informed the building secretary (S. Agarwal) about it and she opened the door with a duplicate key,” an officer quoted Misra as saying.

Sikandar, who was from Banka district of Bihar, had been working for the Goenkas for three years.

Madan Mohan and his wife, who had left for Vrindavan on January 6, are likely to return on Friday, the police said.

A teenaged gatekeeper in the South Tower said he did not see Sikandar step out of the Goenkas’ fourth-floor flat throughout Wednesday.

“I don’t recall seeing any stranger going upstairs or coming down either. This is the only entry and exit in the South Tower,” he said, pointing towards the lobby that has two elevators and two staircases.

The ground floors of both towers are for commercial use, while the first floor houses the servant quarters. Sikandar was staying in the Goenkas’ flat because they were away.

When a police team reached the apartment, they found all three bedrooms locked.