GYAN PRAKASH,
5 DECEMBER 2006, TIMES OF INDIA, PATNA.
Police are yet to zero in on the criminals involved in the brutal murder of Patna University History Professor, Papiya Ghosh and her maid at Patliputra Colony here.
The Police have been working on two different angles; whether it is a pure robbery-related murder or was the eminent scholar killed with aim to grab her property located in the city’s up-market Patliputra Colony.
Police Officials investigating the case, do not rule out the hand of some persons known to the Professor’s family behind the murder – if at all property is the motive behind it. For, close examination of Prof Ghosh’s house by Police clearly suggested that there was no ‘forced entry’ into the house. “It means the assailants were known to the Professor and must have entered the house quite easily,” said a Police Officer who visited the house on Monday.
A thorough search of the house has revealed that valuables, including a washing machine, a laptop, music system, a computer, a TV set besides a Maruti car were taken away by the criminals. Police could ascertain about the missing items from Jeshan and Eshan – the two grandsons of Prof’s Ghosh’s 70-year old Malti Devi, who was also killed.
Both Jeshan and Eshan, who are doing a diploma course in IT here, used to stay in the Professor’s house. When the incident occurred they were reportedly away at their native village of Shahjehanpur in Patna district to attend ‘shradh’ ceremony of their sister-in-law and maternal uncle.
It was only later on Sunday, when the duo returned, that they came to know about the brutal murder of their grandmother and Prof Ghosh.
Prof Ghosh’s younger sister Tuktuk Ghosh – who rushed here from Delhi soon after being informed of the tragedy on Sunday – is understood to have told IG Rajvardhan Sharma that her sister was “very strict” and “bold” and would never allow strangers into the house.
This has also been corroborated by Eshan who said Prof Ghosh used to lock the main gate of the house by 5 pm sharp everyday and would open it only when relatives and persons known to her came visiting.
The Police are also confused why the main gate was not locked on the night of the crime. They are also perplexed how the criminals could load all the looted items in Prof Ghosh’s Marutri-800 and escape. Police are probing whether another car was used by the criminals.
Senior SP Kundan Krishnan said the way papers were found littered in the house suggested that the criminals were looking for ‘some documents’ – may be pertaining to ownership of the house.
DGP AR Sinha, meanwhile, has announced a reward of Rs.50000 to those providing clues to the killers of Prof Ghosh.