A carpenter has been arrested in connection with the murder of Subhra Ghosh Dastidar, 75, who was found dead at her Behala home on Thursday morning.
Police said Ranjit Porel, 28, was arrested in Joka on Saturday morning.
The elderly woman was strangulated with a blouse and smothered with a sari when her son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter were not at home.
“The family had hired Porel to make some furniture. He had first visited the house the day before the woman was murdered and done a recce. Others involved in the crime are still absconding,” said an officer in the homicide department of the detective department.
Charges of murder and theft have been slapped on Porel.
The gang knew when the woman, a cancer survivor, would be alone, the officer said.
“When the gang pressed the doorbell, Ghosh Dastidar opened the door and let the men in thinking they had come for some carpentry work,” the officer said. The men tied her hands and muffled her with a sari before taking away her gold chain, gold bangle and some cash.
The police suspect the men wanted to search the entire two-storey house, off the Behala tram depot, but could not because the family’s domestic help had turned up. The help started banging on the door after the doorbell went unanswered.
“It is not clear whether the men panicked and killed the woman after the help started banging on the door,” the officer said.
The help alerted the family’s next-door neighbour after Ghosh Dastidar failed to open the door. The neighbour then alerted the victim’s daughter-in-law Sangita.
While talking to Sangita, the neighbour walked away towards her home. When she returned a few minutes later, she found the Ghosh Dastidars’ door open.
The police suspect the killers fled the moment the neighbour walked away.
Porel was produced in court on Saturday and remanded in police custody.
A few months ago, 75-year-old Shyamali Ghosh was found murdered at her Jodhpur Park home. The gardener and the caretaker of the building where she lived were arrested in connection with the murder.
