Shoe baron killed, police suspect extortion bid

The co-owner of shoe company Sree Leathers was today gunned down by motorcycle-borne assailants in the Sakchi area of Jamshedpur.

The co-owner of shoe company Sree Leathers was today gunned down by motorcycle-borne assailants in the Sakchi area of Jamshedpur.

Ashish Dey, 50, was on his way to the company showroom when the killers shot him at close range and zipped away, DSP (City) Madhusudhan Bari said. He said Dey, who took three bullets, was rushed to Tata Main Hospital, where doctors declared him dead on arrival.

Sree Leathers, owned by the Dey family of Kolkata, has a chain of stores across the country and in the US. Ashish Dey, the youngest son, was in charge of the Sakchi showroom. The eldest son, Shekhar, looks after another showroom in the Bistupur area of the city while the second brother Sudhangshu heads the firm’s showrooms in Kolkata.

The family refused to comment on the incident, but DSP Bari said Dey had been getting threat calls for the past three months, even from the Northeast, and had lodged a police complaint. He said an extortion bid could be behind the killing.

Jamshedpur SP Naveen Singh said Dey had told a friend that he would not pay the money demanded by a caller from Nagaland. “We are checking the call records of his cellphone,” he said.

Police said preliminary investigation revealed that Dey owned a lot of property in Jamshedpur, so the possibility of a local dispute leading to the killing was also being looked at. As news of the killing spread, shops downed their shutters in protest.

Although police have not yet linked the killing to Naxal groups, the Congress said it might consider withdrawing support if Chief Minister Madhu Koda failed to stem escalating Naxalite violence in the state.