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Journalism of Courage
Over 20 hours have passed since the murder of Sankar Jana, 60, owner of Saraswati Chain and Ornament at Baranagar in North 24 Parganas, but the murderers are still at large, even as the police indicate there were five of them of 20-25 years of age, who threw chilli powder at the jeweller before killing him and looting the shop.
On Sunday, a forensic team and a team from the Detective Department of the Barrakpore Police Commissionerate arrived at the crime scene to collect more evidence in connection with Saturday’s incident, in which the investigators believe that ornaments worth a few crores were stolen.
The police said his mobile phone was still missing and switched off. “The killers had come with the intention to loot the shop and conducted the operation within 15 minutes of entering the shop,” a police officer said.
The police are examining recordings from at least 10 CCTV cameras. They have contacted the railway police, as the DumDum metro and railway stations are just 2 km away and the murderers may have escaped by train or metro.
According to locals, the jewellery shop generally stays closed from 2 pm to 3 pm, raising questions for the police as to why the shop was kept open at the time on Saturday and whether one of the killers had called Sankar Jana. The police are looking into his call data records.
The police have also found an iron rod and an open packet of red chilli powder inside the shop. “Probably the killers had thrown red chilli powder at the owner,” a police officer said.
Sankar Jana’s son arrived in Kolkata late on Saturday night from Delhi and lodged a police complaint. He visited the shop on Sunday morning but was in no condition to speak to reporters. He had become suspicious when he saw the shop’s CCTV screens linked to his phone had gone blank. He called his father but received no response. So he alerted neighbouring shopkeepers, who then entered the jewellery shop and found Jana lying in a pool of blood.
Speaking to The Indian Express, Police Commissioner Murlidhar Sharma said, “We have got CCTV footage. Our team is working on the inputs so that the culprits can be arrested soon.
The police said the robbers appeared to have carried out prior reconnaissance of the area and might have chosen the time because many neighbouring businesses were closed after the Durga Puja festivities, leaving narrow lanes unusually empty.
Authorities appealed to anyone with dashcam or mobile footage from the area between 2.30 pm and 4 pm on Saturday, or anyone who noticed suspicious persons in the locality, to share the details with the police.
On Saturday, panic gripped Shambhu Nath Das Lane after shopkeepers found the body of Sankar Jana lying on the floor of his jewellery shop, with his legs bound with a rope. The police said they had found blunt force trauma in the back of Sankar Jana’s head and also “signs of struggle”.
According to the police, Sankar Jana was taken to a nearby hospital but was declared dead. The body was later taken to Baranagar State General Hospital for a postmortem examination.
Police sources said that one of the five people stood outside the shop while the remaining four entered the shop posing as customers, between 3 pm and 3.30 pm.
Meanwhile, the jewellery business community has demanded increased police vigilance in the area.
“We are scared after this incident. Let CCTVs be installed and let there be more police vigilance in the area. This is a very peaceful area and I cannot even imagine such an incident,” said a local resident, Manik Sen.
A jewellery shop worker told reporters, “Generally, we work inside the shops even when the owners are not there. This is very scary. The gold prices are high. Now this is a cause of worry.”
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