By IANS
Kolkata : A sordid tale of sex, lies and coercion has unfolded in the recent murder of a realty firm secretary. The victim was blackmailed by a gang of youths after he entered into a homosexual relationship with one of them.
The police said Saturday when the blackmail plot went awry, 40-year-old Shrachi Group company secretary Rakesh Gupta was killed Feb 10 in a house in New Barrackpore on the outskirts of Kolkata and his body dumped by the side of a pond the next day. Four people, including two women, were arrested.
The blackmailers, who strangulated Gupta to keep him from going to the police, were led by a handsome young man called Shibu, whom the victim had first met six months back at a city mall, officers said.
“Gupta had of late developed certain homosexual tendencies and that is how he met Shibu at City Centre in Salt Lake. They became very close friends,” North 24-Parganas superintendent of police Supratim Sarkar said.
Gupta was a married and his wife was expecting their baby, reports said.
Shibu, who is still untraced, planned to cash in on Gupta’s sexual preferences and “blackmailed him”, Sarkar added.
The 28-year-old resident of Sodepur near Kolkata drafted two criminal friends – Chandan Basu, 25, and Jeet alias Mithun Ghosh, 23 – to help him. All of them were earlier involved in various criminal cases, including extortion and attempt to murder.
When Chandan was arrested Friday from his in-laws’ place in Gobordanga in North 24 Parganas, he blew the lid on the murder. “We were tracking criminals who had left their homes after the murder. Using underworld sources, we targeted Chandan. He broke down and confessed,” Sarkar said.
His men found Jeet already in custody, at Khardah police station, arrested for a theft. They then picked up two women – Laxmi Chakrabarty, 35, said to be Chandan’s paramour, and her sister-in-law Phulmoni Chakrabarty, 45.
The four, charged with murder and trying to destroy evidence, have got four days’ police remand. The police are looking for Shibu and the driver of the Tata-407, which was used to carry the body.
According to reports, Rakesh Gupta, a resident of Teghoria in north Kolkata, had taken a cab to the airport on Sunday afternoon to see off his mother. On his way back, he got a call from Shibu to meet him at Dum Dum station.
Shibu enticed him to a house in New Barrackpore for a few hours of “fun”. The house belongs to Laxmi’s brother Basu, a goon who once terrorised Baguiati, Sarkar said. Except Phulmoni, the others were there.
“Gupta was told there would be CDs and blue films. But soon, the gang demanded money, threatening to reveal his homosexual activities.”
When Gupta refused to pay up or hand over his ATM card, there was a scuffle.
“The gang realised Gupta could go to the police and strangled him with a handkerchief,” Sarkar said. “They then hired the Tata-407 and went to Ultadanga, where they met Phulmoni and took her help to get the gunny bag and nylon ropes to tie the body up.”