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Pune businessman murdered in Guwahati 5-star hotel; Kolkata couple arrested
Police said that in the initial investigation, it has been found that a triangle love affair followed by an alleged blackmailing was the reason behind the murder
A 44-year-old businessman from Maharashtra’s Pune was murdered by a couple from West Bengal in a five-star hotel in Guwahati on Monday, the Assam Police said adding that the accused couple has been arrested.
The deceased has been identified as Sandeep Suresh Kamble, a resident of Shastrinagar area of Pune. The accused have been identified as Anjali Shaw (25) and Vikas Kumar Shaw (23) from Kolkata. Anjali originally hails from Bihar while Vikas is from Uttar Pradesh. Both have been staying in Kolkata for many years, according to police.
“Sandeep met Anjali in Kolkata Airport last year and they developed a relationship. Later they met in Kolkata and Pune and stayed in hotels several times,” said Diganta Barah, Commissioner of Police (CP), Guwahati.
Sandeep, who was a married man and a father of 13-year-old, asked Anjali to marry him but she refused, according to Barah.
“After that, he shared some intimate pictures of her with her family members and claimed that she is a woman of questionable character. He kept creating pressure on her further,” he said.
Anjali along with her alleged boyfriend Vikas planned to meet Sandeep in Kolkata but Sandeep asked Anjali to come to Guwahati. Sandeep bought a ticket for Anjali and booked a room in Guwahati’s Radisson Blu hotel. Vikas followed them and booked a room in the same hotel.
According to police, Anjali and Vikas wanted to force Sandeep to delete the intimate pictures and they brought some laddus mixed with narcotic substance.
“Sandeep ate half laddu mixed with Bhang and started feeling uneasy when Vikas suddenly entered their room. They fought and Sandeep sustained some grievous injuries. After leaving the hotel, Vikas called the receptionist and informed them about Sandeep’s condition,” police said.
According to police, the incident happened at around 2.30pm on Monday and the accused were detained at Guwahati’s Azara area at 6.30pm.
“They tried to catch a train at Kamakhya Station but failed. They had tickets for a Kolkata-bound flight at 9.15 pm but we caught them before that,” police said.
According to Barah, a case has been registered against Anjali and Vikas at Jalukbari Police Station under sections 302 (murder) and 34 (illegal assembly for a common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
He said that in the initial investigation, it has been found that a triangle love affair followed by the alleged blackmailing was the reason behind the murder and nobody except these three were involved in it.
“When Anjali could not bear the regular torture by Sandeep, she along with her boyfriend hatched a plan. They claimed that there was no intention of murder and they only wanted to delete the pictures,” he said.
The arrested persons are going through interrogation under police custody, and they’ll be produced before the court on Wednesday, police saod.
Sandeep’s dead body was recovered by the police and sent to Gauhati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) for postmortem. His family members have reached Guwahati.
“We have collected CCTV footages of the hotel, bloodstained clothes of the accused, WhatsApp chat between Sandeep and Anjali, also recorded statements of the hotel staffs. Once we get the postmortem report, the cause of death will be clear,” the SP said.
