Bodies of 2 Teenagers Found in Ditch Near Kolkata; 4 Charged With Murder

The 17-year-old victims were killed in West Bengal's South 24 Parganas allegedly over a monetary dispute.

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(Photo: Altered by The Quint) 

Two minors, who had been missing over the last two weeks, were found dead in a roadside ditch in West Bengal's South 24 Parganas district on Wednesday, 7 September.

The police said that the school students, both aged 17, were allegedly killed in a moving car on 22 August by their neighbour and his associates over a monetary dispute. Their bodies were then dumped in a canal on the Basanti Highway near Kolkata.

The minors had been missing for the last two weeks.

The police have so far arrested four persons in connection with the case, namely Abhijit Bose, 25, Shamim Ali, 20, Sahil Molla, 20, and Dibyendu Das, who is also said to be in his 20s.

A case of abduction and murder has been filed, and the case handed over to the Crime Investigation Department (CID).

The police said that the motive behind the kidnapping and murder of the victims was reportedly a transaction worth Rs 50,000 to purchase a bike. However, other motives are being looked into as well, NDTV reported.

The police also said that the accused persons and the victims had visited a bike showroom after the latter were kidnapped.

"We had kept all possibilities open when we started our probe. In the meantime, they received ransom messages, but they could not establish contact with the kidnappers," an official from the Bidhannagar police station said.

He also said that one of the accused, Abhijit Bose, had confessed to the murders.

"After Bose was interrogated, he broke down and confessed that on 22 (August), he, along with Satyendra and two to three others in the car, strangled the children on the Basanti Highway between 8 and 10 pm," the official added.

Police Official Sacked After Victims' Families Allege Negligence

Meanwhile, the families of the victims have claimed that police officials had refused to take their complaint regarding the matter seriously.

Subsequently, the officer-in-charge of the Baguihati police station, where the complaint was lodged, was removed from his post.

"The OC has now been removed and the probe of the case has been handed over to the CID. The police have been instructed to complete the investigation at the soonest. The police have been ordered to bring the main accused before the court and justice soonest," West Bengal minister Firhad Hakim said.

Attacking the West Bengal Police, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said that the incident bore resemblance to Bihar in the 1980s and 90s, known for "lawlessness and kidnappings for ransom depicted in the Hindi film 'Apharan'."

"In Bengal, all these days we have seen the business of selling jobs, now will we see a business of kidnappings here? Will a film be made on it also? This is a very tragic and unfortunate incident. And the police were reluctant to act and took no steps," he said.

(With inputs from NDTV.)