Kolkata, June 14: A 25-year-old employee of a jewellery shop committed suicide after the owner allegedly confined him in the shop for the past two days, accusing him of stealing cash. Two days ago, Abhijit Das, the victim went to Burrabazar with his employer’s money and was robbed by a gang. Rabindranath Ghosh, the owner of the shop, did not believe the incident had taken place and put pressure on him to refund the money.
Probe revealed that Das, a resident of Rishra in Hooghly, worked at Ghosh’s shop on Jadu Pandit Lane in north Kolkata for the past few years.
On Thursday, he went to a gold merchant in Burrabazar with Rs14 lakh to purchase gold for the shop. On the way, Das was reportedly intercepted by a group of people who identified themselves as CBI officers and asked him to open his bag containing the money. During checking some currency notes fell on the ground Das collected the cash. Meanwhile the group handed over the bag.
Without suspecting anything, Das went to the wholesaler and found Rs 8 lakh missing from the bag. He then realised that he had been duped and told the merchant about the incident.
Soon after hearing the matter, the gold merchant informed Ghosh, who immediately asked Das to return.
“After returning to the shop, Ghosh accused him of stealing money. Ghosh did not believe my son and called me up,” said Sibnath Das, the victim’s father. The next morning, Das’ family members went to the shop. “We tried to convince Ghosh but he did not listen. He threatened that Das would not be released until the payment. Finally he asked us to pay at least Rs 4 lakh to release Abhijit. He even threatened to kill him,” alleged Sukumar Ghosh, the victim’s brother in-law.
Ghosh allegedly confined Das in his shop. “Earlier, he used to return home daily but this time, his employer did not allow him to return,” said victim’s father.
On Saturday morning, Ghosh informed Burtolla police that one of his employees was found hanging inside his shop. Later, Das’ family members lodged a complaint with police that Ghosh had confined Das in his shop for the past two days.
Das’ family members alleged he was murdered but after the initial probe, police confirmed the death as suicidal. Police however arrested Ghosh and started a case of abetting suicide under 306 IPC.
—-Agencies