Trainee nurse whisked away- Murder in the morning, abduction at noon, cops on toes

TT, Siliguri, Nov. 14: A trainee nurse was abducted this afternoon by a group of youths from a busy section of the town while she was on her way with two colleagues to the nursing home where she worked.

Police suspect the abduction is the outcome of a one-sided affair. The kidnappers had come in a white Maruti Omni.

Sources said around 12.30pm, Suraksha Sharma, along with Nuria Gloria and Durga Roy, was on her way to Dr Nayak’s Nursing Home from the hostel located on a bylane off Sevoke Road. The white Maruti van with two-three youths inside was parked in front of the hostel.

When the girls were passing by the vehicle, a youth came out and started talking to 21-year-old Suraksha, police sources said. The conversation lasted for about five minutes after which Suraksha started walking towards her friends who had marched ahead. The youth, all of a sudden, started dragging her into the car. With Suraksha inside, the vehicle sped towards Sevoke Road (see chart). Witnesses said it disappeared towards Sevoke and Suraksha had put up a good fight. The area is a busy part of the town, dotted with a shopping mall, cinema hall and food outlets. “The other two (trainee nurses) informed us and we called the police,” said A.K Haldar, the superviser of the nursing home. The police said investigation had revealed that about two months back, Suraksha had a heated conversation with a youth in front of the hostel. But nobody could say if that youth was among today’s abductors.

“We suspect the abduction was the result of some kind of love affair. All police stations in neighbouring areas have been alerted,” said Anand Kumar, the superintendent of police of Jalpaiguri. The nursing home and Sevoke Road area, though part of the Siliguri Municipal Corporation, are in Jalpaiguri district.

Suraksha had been working as a trainee nurse since March. She is a resident of Gathia Tea Estate in Nagrakata block of Jalpaiguri, 75km from here. Her parents have been informed about the abduction. “We have three rooms in the house where 13 trainee nurses stay,” Utpal Sarkar, the landlord, said. “Their stay depends on their training schedules. All of them are employees of Dr Nayak’s Nursing Home.”

The nursing home authorities did not allow the media to talk to Nuria and Durga but police quoted them as saying the youth and Suraksha had been conversing casually. “They have no clue why he suddenly dragged her into the car,” an officer of Bhaktinagar police station said.

Whiff of affair in youth death

Raju (top), his mother Swapna and Abhijit (below) at Siliguri District Hospital where they were arrested on Sunday. Pictures by Kundan Yolmo

TT, Siliguri, Nov. 14: A 30-year-old cab driver was found murdered at his home in Satyajit Nagar shortly after midnight today with the finger of suspicion pointing at the woman whom he had been staying with, her son and a friend of his.

Police suspect Amal Roy was murdered after he had an altercation with Swapna Roy, 35, over her relationship with 27-year-old Abhijit Ghosh. Swapna, her son Raju, 18, and Abhijit have been arrested.

A knife has been seized from the rented room in which the couple lived with Swapna’s children, one of them a 13-year-old girl.

Sources said Amal’s wife, child and his parents lived in Baghajatin Colony, 1.5km from Satyajit Nagar. He had deserted them around six months ago and had come to stay with Swapna and her children.

“About two months back, they (Swapna and Amal) introduced themselves as husband and wife and took a portion of my house on rent. I learnt that Amal was a taxi driver. I had no inkling that they were not married,” said Bapi Mukherjee, the landlord.

Neither the police nor neighbours could say anything about Swapna’s husband, the father of her children. “I had never seen her husband. Amal used to run the family. We had assumed that the brother-sister duo had accepted Amal as their step-father,” Bapi said.

Around 1am today, a neighbour called on Bapi to tell him that a noise, like somebody writhing in pain, seemed to be coming from Swapna’s room. “I too heard the groaning and knocked at their door. After repeated knocks, Swapna opened the door but said everything was fine and was about to close the door on my face,” the landlord said.

But Bapi insisted on entering. Soon, some neighbours assembled and forced Swapna to move away from the door.

“Inside the room, we saw Amal lying dead on the bed in a pool of blood with his throat slit. We also spotted Raju and Abhijit in the room. Of late, I had noticed Abhijit visiting Swapna. Immediately, I locked the door from outside and asked the neighbours to call the police,” Bapi said.

A force from Pradhannagar police station sent the body for post-mortem and also sealed the room.

“Three persons, including the woman, have been arrested. As Amal’s throat had been slit, we decided to initiate a murder case. We have seized a knife from the room, which can be the probable weapon for the murder,” said Gaurav Sharma, the additional superintendent of police of Siliguri. “The landlord has filed a complaint. Our men are trying to verify the relationship between the deceased and the woman.”

According to the police and neighbours, Amal had an affair with Swapna.

“We had learnt that their relationship was steady but suddenly Abhijit, who paints houses and works with Raju, had started visiting Swapna. The two had been having an affair,” a police officer said. “Amal did not like it and repeatedly threatened the duo with dire consequences if they continue with their relationship.”

This had created a tension in the couple’s relationship and early this morning, when Amal was sleeping, they slit his throat, an officer said.

Amal’s family in Baghajatin Colony refused to talk to the media.