An elderly businessman was hacked to death by unidentified assailants while he was parking his two-wheeler on the premises of his residence at Gaighata in North 24-Parganas on Thursday night.

Bidhan Sarkar, 63, who owned a furniture shop and faced charges of alleged involvement in cattle smuggling racket, was attacked with sharp-edged weapons by the unidentified goons as he was parking his motorbike after opening the gate of his house in Gaighata’s Kahaknia area around 10.30pm on Thursday, police and family sources said.

“We heard the sound of his motorcycle and was waiting for him to enter the home. As he took unusually long to enter his home and a dog started to bark, I stepped outside with a torch and found my father lying in a pool of blood and gasping for life,” said his son Raja Sarkar.

“His throat was bizarrely hacked. There were other deep injuries on his head, shoulder and legs. I cried out watching him in such a state. Neighbours rushed in and took my father to Chandpara Hospital but he died on the way,” Raja said.

Though neither the police nor his kin could so far conclusively ascertain the motive behind the murder, a family said: “We are clueless what led to the murder but heard about some old business rivalries.”

Raja has lodged a complaint of murder and the police have detained one person for his suspected involvement in the incident.

“Prima facie it appears that the businessman was killed to settle an old enmity as he was earlier associated with a number of criminal activities like drug trafficking, cattle smuggling and was a close associate of a notorious criminal based in Sutia area,” an investigating officer of Gaighata police station said.

Police sources said that Sarkar was a kingpin of a smuggling racket and had been arrested a few years ago. “We are looking into all the possible angles behind the murder,” a police officer said.

In a second tragedy to the family, Sarkar’s sister-in-law Tanu Biswas, 34, was found hanging in her rented house in Gaighata’s Kahaknia on Friday. Family sources said Tanu was dependent on Sarkar as she was separated from her husband and committed the suicide unable to bear the pain of the murder of the businessman.

A police officer said the suicide was being investigated.