A car crash on EM Bypass and the subsequent recovery of three dead women from a house in Tangra has left a trail of unanswered questions.

Here is what the investigation has revealed so far and a list of questions bothering the investigators:

Payesh

Priyambada Dey, a Class IX student of a reputable school, is suspected to have consumed payesh laced with a high dose of sedatives.

What police have found till now: The police said there was froth oozing out of her mouth when they found her.

It is not clear if the other family members, too, consumed the same dessert. “If it were a suicide pact, all of them would have consumed it,” said an officer attached to the probe.

CCTV footage

CCTV footage shows brothers Prasun and Pranay Dey and Pranay’s son Pratip, 14, leaving their house at 12.51am on Wednesday.

What police have found till now: Their car crashed on EM Bypass around 3.30am. The police said they were examining all the available cameras on the route and trying to locate the movement of the car during this period.

The distance between their home and the crash site would be around 6km. So, where they were between 12.51am and 3.30am, could tell a lot, police investigators said.

Financial crisis

The Dey brothers are believed to have spoken to the police about a financial crisis.

What the police have found: Protective Leather Gloves Pvt Ltd, the company owned by the brothers, was founded in December 2013 and has an annual turnover of more than ₹12 crore.

Police sources said according to the company’s records, it had taken loans of ₹3.08 crore from a private bank in Mumbai and ₹45 lakh from another bank in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.

The Dey brothers jointly own another company, Pelican Enterprises Private Limited. Pranay also owns a third company called ABG Tower Private Limited.

The car crash

Prasun, Pranay and Pratip were in their car that crashed on the Bypass.

What police have found till now: Prasun was at the wheel and has told the police that he “dozed off” while driving, resulting in the crash. According to the Dey brothers’ statement to the police, Pranay had a “drug overdose”.

Pratip was in the front seat next to Prasun and suffered critical injuries. Pratip underwent surgery for a fractured left humerus bone and was undergoing a surgery on his right wrist on Wednesday night.

According to officials of Ruby General Hospital, Pranay had a small abrasion and hematoma on his left forehead and was bleeding from both nostrils.

Prasun had rib injury and two deep cut injuries almost 2 inches long on both his arms.

The police said it was still not clear if the injuries on the arms were from the car crash or had been inflicted with a sharp weapon before the accident.

Kolkata Police commissioner Manoj Verma told a news conference at headquarters Lalbazar that the police were not immediately believing everything that
the survivors are saying about the circumstances. Their versions will be matched with supporting evidence and used to reconstruct the incident, he said.

Phones switched off

Relatives and at least one vendor who was supposed to get money from the Deys said he found the family members’ mobile phones switched off on Tuesday evening.

What police have found till now: After analysing the call details of the Dey brothers, the police are said to have found that there were no incoming or outgoing calls on Tuesday, possibly because they were switched off for the better part of the day. One of the brothers received 18 text messages from a bank on Tuesday afternoon, sources said.

No response

The vendor had rung the bell at the Deys’ home on Tuesday evening but no one responded. Neighbours did not see the women of the house perform the usual evening puja on the terrace.

What police have found till now: The electronic evidence and tower locations of the family members so far suggest that the residents were all in the house on Tuesday evening.