Indrajeet Chakraborty

Indrajeet Chakraborty’s murder was planned, police said three days after the schoolteacher-turned-actor was found dead at his rented flat near Tollygunge.

Cops also suspect that there were three persons, and not two as had earlier been thought, in Indrajeet’s room when he was killed. No one has yet been arrested.

“His assailants had planned the act and brought the sticking plaster that was used to seal his mouth. Had the sticking plaster been taken from the actor’s apartment, the remaining part of the roll would have been found there. But nothing was found,” said a detective department officer.

Earlier, it was suspected that Indrajeet — whose post-mortem report shows he was smothered — might have died accidentally while the accused were trying to keep his mouth shut and steal articles from his flat. A laptop, two cellphones, a gold earring and a finger ring of the actor have been missing.

The officers probing the murder are yet to know the motive of the assailants. Sleuths are not ruling out the possibility of the articles having been stolen to misguide the police and make the murder appear as a “crime for gain”.

Though liquor bottles and cans were recovered from Indrajeet’s Regent Colony flat, where he was found dead on Monday night, cops familiar with the probe said no trace of alcohol was found in the victim’s stomach during the post-mortem.

“Indrajeet was not under the influence of alcohol and it must have taken at least two or more persons to overpower him. It appears his hands were tied behind his back almost at the same time when his mouth and nose were gagged,” said an investigator.

It appears that someone held his throat while another person smothered him. “The cut on the upper lip could be an injury suffered before or after his mouth and nose were covered with the sticking plaster. From the extent of injury it seems he was smothered with bare hands. Had any object like a pillow or blanket been used, the injury would have been more grievous,” the officer added.