Kolkata: A team of CID in West Bengal on Tuesday claimed to have solved the brutal triple murder case in Bengal’s Murshidabad district, which shook the country last week.
The accused, identified as Utpal Behara, a resident of Sahapur village at Sagardighi under Jangipur subdivision in Murshidabad district, has been arrested.
On October 8, Bandhu Prakash Pal, a school teacher, his pregnant wife Beauty, and their eight-year-old son Angan were found murdered at their house at Lebu Bagan in Jiagunj in Murshidabad. All three were found lying in a pool of blood with multiple deep cuts all over their bodies.
Investigation revealed that Bandhu was running an illegal ‘fixed deposit scheme’ (similar to chit fund but here the volume of money involved was less) where several people, mainly from economically weaker backgrounds, opened their accounts.
Bandhu, who lived near Utpal Behera’s house in Sahapur village before moving to Jiagunj, allegedly convinced Utpal to invest money in his ‘fixed deposit scheme’.
In his statement to police, Utpal said he asked Bandhu to give him Rs 48,000 as per their agreement once the scheme got matured. However, despite repeated reminders, Bandhu ignored his requests.
This angered Utpal and he visited Bandhu’s Jiagunj residence on October 5 but he was allegedly humiliated and misbehaved with. Utpal claimed that Bandhu abused and threatened him with dire consequences.
After the fight, Uptal went to his sister’s house and on October 8 he scaled the boundary wall of Bandhu’s house, entered the property and hacked all family members to death with a machete.
“He confessed to his crime during interrogation. He also revealed that while fleeing, a local milkman Rajib Das, Bandhu’s neighbours Krishna Sarkar and Ratan Kumar Das saw him. We prepared a sketch of Uptal based on their descriptions. Also, through call details we found that Utpal made the last call to Bandhu,” a senior CID officer said.
Police got the first clue about Utpal’s involvement when they recovered his ‘fixed deposit’ passbook from near Bandhu’s body. “It seems that after committing the crime, his passbook accidentally fell on the ground. Some valuable items are missing from the house. Further investigation is on,” the CID officer said.
However, Utpal’s father Madhab Behera admitted that his son had invested some money in Bandhu’s scheme but refused to believe his involvement in the crime. “Yes, my son invested some money in Bandhu’s financial schemes. He was supposed to get some money back and that is why he called up Bandhu. But I refuse to believe that my son has committed the crime. He has been framed. He is not involved in the murders.”
Bandhu was a teacher at the Gosaigram Sahapara Primary School and the RSS unit in Bengal claimed that he was actively involved in work related to Sangh, and was working on ‘weekly milan (congregation)’ in the district.
However, his family members denied his association with any political outfit. “It is absolutely wrong to say he was associated with a political organisation or RSS. It is unfortunate that people are politicising the matter,” Bandhu’s brother-in-law Diptiman Sarkar said.
Meanwhile, the state BJP has sought an appointment with Union Minister Amit Shah and President Ram Nath Kovind on October 15 to brief them about the deteriorating law and order situation in West Bengal.