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regular-article-logo Saturday, 11 May 2024

CID draws up list of persons for murder quiz

Sources said they had 'multiple angles' in murder which they would explore one by one

Abhijeet Chatterjee Durgapur Published 20.02.23, 04:56 AM
Arvind Bhagat

Arvind Bhagat

The CID has prepared a list of persons, including an Opposition party leader, whom the agency will interrogate in connection with the murder of hotelier Arvind Bhagat in Asansol.

CID sources said they had “multiple angles” in the murder which they would explore one by one but the thrust of the current probe was on Bhagat’s money-lending business and land deals.

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“We need to know the persons who borrowed money from Bhagat and for that, we will interrogate his wife and manager. We will check their present loan status,” said a CID officer probing the case.

Sources said Bhagat’s manager was currently in Uttar Pradesh for his daughter’s marriage. “We will interrogate Bhagat’s wife Julie tomorrow and have asked his manager to return soon after the marriage,” said the CID officer.

However, the FIR on the murder lodged by the victim’s relative reportedly did not mention any name or suspect.

The CID will also interrogate an Opposition party leader in Asansol with whom a civil case was going in the high court over a boundary wall that blocks the entrance to his house. Bhagat, 55, was shot dead by two assailants while he was in a meeting at the lounge of the Hotel Meera International on Friday evening.

The investigators said they had examined the CCTV footage of exit points from Asansol to ascertain the escape route of the assailants but could not determine it. The assailants reportedly came and escaped in a motorbike.

“They might have use another vehicle to escape later. The pistols used in the murder was country made mostly procure from Munger in Bihar. But we are sure they are professional killers,” said the CID source.

Sources said Hotel Meera International is open but its boarders checked out since Saturday out of fear after the Friday night murder.

“Both the hotel rooms and our restaurant are now empty after the incident,” said a hotel staff.

Bhagat’s older son is differently abled and his younger son is a minor. His wife Julie presently unable to speak because of the sudden shock.

Sources said such a murder in Asansol was not new. At least four persons including former CPM MLA Dilip Sarkar were murdered in daylight in 2011 and none of the cases were solved even after the forming of a separate commissionerate for Asansol and Durgapur to curb crime in the bordering district.

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