A week after a family of three was brutally murdered in Murshidabad in West Bengal, the police has arrested one person who had allegedly committed the crime. On Tuesday morning, the West Bengal police informed media in a press conference that they have arrested one Utpal Behera, who had confessed to murdering teacher Bandhu Prakash Pal, his wife Beauty Pal who was pregnant, and their six-year-old son. As Pal was a member of RSS, the case was seen as one of the dozens of political murders happening in the state, but police have said that they found no political angle in the crime. They have said the brutal triple murder was done for a dispute over mere ₹24,000.
Murshidabad SP Mukesh Kumar said that Utpal Behera is a resident of Sahapur and he is a mason by profession, and he had confessed to have committed the crime on the day of Viaya Dashami last week. They have claimed to have found the murder weapon, a letter hand-written by Beauty Pal, some bank and insurance documents, and blood-stained clothes.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlvjwsZXvkc]
Police informed that although Bandhu Prakash Pal is from Jiyganj, he used to stay in Sahapur village in Sagardighi as he was a teacher there. He was associated with several finance companies, and also worked as an insurance agent for several insurance companies. In Sahapur he did an insurance policy of Utpal Behera’s father Madhab Behera with a yearly premium of ₹24,000. Madhab Behera received the first year receipt on time, but after paying the second premium, he didn’t receive the receipt. Police said that several other people have also accused that Bandhu Prakash had collected money from them but didn’t deposit that with the insurance company.
Police also informed that Bandhu Prakash was under pressure from several lenders as large amounts of money due to them by him.
Utpal alleged that despite asking several times, his father didn’t receive the receipt, instead, Bandhu Prakash Pal started misbehaving with him. This led to Utpal suspecting that their money has not been deposited, and he decided to take revenge for this.
Police have said that Utpal has said that he called Bandhu Prakash on 3rd October, and visited the area on the night of Navami, but as he didn’t know the house, he came back. On 8th he called Bandhu Prakash in the morning, who gave directions to his home, and Utpal Behera arrived there at just after 12, ready with sharp weapons. Bandhu Prakash Pal opened the door for him, and Utpal hacked his neck on the spot. At that time Beauty Pal was talking on phone. After killing the teacher, Utpal than killed Beauty and their son. He said that he had to kill them as they were witnesses to his first murder. Police have said that Beauty’s phone records confirm that she was talking on phone at 12.06 PM, the time of the murder.
All three murders were done in five minutes, and he had fled the scene by 12.11 PM, when a milkman came to the house. Utpal escaped from there by pushing him. Police claim that several other persons in the locality saw him going out of the house.
Police have said that financial dealings were the only motive of the triple murder, and there were no other reasons like political or personal enmities. Police will present Utpal Behera in court today and seek his custody for interrogation.
Although Police have claimed that Utpal has confessed, his family members deny the charges. They say that police have arrested him on false charges because he was seeking his money back from Bandhu Prakash.
The police have arrested another person named Souvik in relation to the murder. It is alleged that he had financial dealings with Bandhu Prakash, although police refused to divulge further details.
