By Soumitra Nandi
Kolkata: In less than 48 hours after the recovery of a decomposed body of a 45 year old woman from Baranashi Ghosh Street under Girish Park police station in Central Kolkata the city police arrested Alam Ali, the assailant from Daspur in the West Midnapore district of West Bengal.
“The homicide wing of the detective department has arrested Alam Ali 48 from Daspur in West Midnapore for being involved in the murder of 45 year old Pratima Maity. He has confessed his guilt,” said Pallab Kanti Ghosh, joint commissioner of police (crime)
“The accused was involved in an extra marital affair with the woman Pratima Maity. He had sex with the consent of the woman after tying her hands and feet to the bed. The victim then demanded Rs 50000 from the accused. When he refused she blackmailed him by saying that she would shout and divulge their affair. The victim then throttled Pratima and fled away locking the door from outside,” said an investigating officer.
According to police sources, Pratima whose father’s house is at Laudia village in West Midnapore had come into contact with Alam who lives in the adjacent village a year back. Alam acted as a mediator in the marriage of the daughter of the victim’s sister. Following the marriage Alam and Pratima became involved in an extramarital affair. Alam was a family man with wife and two children.
A few days back Pratima had come to her village home stayed there for few days and returned to the city only on Friday night. On Saturday, Pratima called Alam to her Kolkata house. She wanted to travel to Gujarat and stay with her younger son Sandip who is pursuing engineering at a private college. Alam was a carpenter by profession and Pratima wanted to dispose off her wooden furniture in her Kolkata home before travelling to Gujarat. Alam reached her residence at around 2 pm on Saturday and then went to Sealdah area to fix up an amount for selling the furniture. He returned at around 9 pm. Then the two had sex by consent. Pratima’s relationship with her husband Dilip, who stays at Hyderabad with their elder son Sudip had turned sour and he recently had stopped sending money. Pratima knew very well that Alam besides his carpentry business was also involved in land broking. She demaned Rs 50000 from him but he refused.
Pratima then blackmailed him. She said that she would shout and divulge that Alam had raped her. In fear Alam throttled her to death and then fled away.
The house at Baranashi Ghosh Street where Pratima used to live had four tenants including her. However, three other families were not there for the last few days. The body was recovered on Monday late afternoon only after a foul smell came out from the house. The neighbours called the Girish Park police station who broke open the door to recover the decomposed body.
The accused was produced at Bankshal court on Wednesday and was remanded to police custody for 14 days.