A businessman dealing in gold was found murdered at his office in a congested Posta pocket in northwest Kolkata’s Burrabazar on Sunday evening. Police suspect Dilip Kumar Gupta, 61, was strangled.
No one was arrested till Sunday night.
Gupta was found dead in his office with his face soaked in blood, police said.
An employee first spotted Gupta, a resident of Alipore in southewst Kolkata, in that condition and alerted officers of Posta police station.
“The body of Gupta was found on the first floor of a building in Shibtala Street in Posta. There were injury marks and blood on his face. Posta police and officers of the homicide department are investigating the matter,” said deputy commissioner (central) Rupesh Kumar.
The building housing the office is located in a lane lined with commercial and residential buildings.
An officer said a cotton towel at the murder spot is suspected to have been used to strangle the businessman, who was alone at office.
Investigators said the office was found intact, suggesting there was no struggle between the victim and his killer or killers. “That could mean the killer was known to the victim and the attack was so sudden that there was no time to react or resist,” said an officer.
Senior officers said they did not receive any formal complaint till 10pm from the victim’s family.
On February 14, a 63-year-old businessman named Shanti Lal Baid was found murdered in a guesthouse in Sambhunath Pandit Street, near his house on Lee Road.
The suspected killer fled the city after collecting a ransom of Rs 25 lakh from Baid’s family.
