Kolkata: Two couples were found brutally murdered at their residences in southern parts of the city on Tuesday morning. One of them, aged and childless, was killed for property, according to the police.
The victims were Dilip Mukherjee, a septuagenarian, and his wife Swapna, in her late sixties. They were found dead at their two-storeyed residence on Ashoke Avenue in Netaji Nagar.
Seeing through the windows, the local residents found them lying on two floors after their repeated knocks elicited no response at around 9 am. Mukherjee's body was in the bedroom on the first floor while his wife's was near the stairs on the ground floor.
The police suspect that the double-murder took place in between 11 pm on Monday and 2 am on Tuesday. A young woman who started working as a domestic help at the couple's house six months ago recalled that the houseowner was living under pressure.
She claimed that promoters used to call him to sell off the building but the houseowner refused. The house was ransacked and valuables, including a will and cash, were looted.
Joint commissioner of police (crime) Murlidhar Sharma and deputy commissioner of police (south suburban) Sudeep Sarkar inspected the house. Mr Sharma later said, “The man is suspected to have been killed by smothering or gagging.”
He added, “The woman was murdered with a rope tied around neck. Both the bodies were sent for post-mortem.”
Meanwhile another couple, middle-aged, was found murdered in Narendrapur. The victims were Pradip Biswas and his wife Alpana.
Originally from Tangra, they used to work as caretakers at a house for the past 20 years. The couple had not been seen since July 28. Pradip’s brother Joy went to inquire about him in the morning. He could not trace them except finding two trolley bags kept at the couple's house.
Opening the bags, Joy was shocked to find Pradip's body in one while his wife's body in another. Both the bodies had no clothes on them.
