Siliguri: 18-year-old youth’s body found, head smashed in

ENS, October 13, 2016, Siliguri: Siliguri remained tense Wednesday after locals found the body of an 18-year-old youth with his head smashed in by a stone in Bhaktinagar police station area. Police said the murder could have been a fallout of the youth’s involvement with some “criminal elements”.

The victim has been identified as Anwar Alam, an e-rickshaw driver from the same area.

“He lived with his widowed mother and was the only earning member in the family. Locals found his body Wednesday morning near the banks of the Teesta river, hidden behind bushes,” said a senior police officer part of the team investigating the case. The body was sent to the North Bengal Medical College and Hospital for postmortem examination and its report was still awaited. However, an officer said, “prime facie the cause of death seems to be a blunt injury on his head and we believe we’ve found the murder weapon”.The murder weapon in question is a heavy, blood-stained stone found near the dead body. Some narcotic substance was also recovered from the area. The youth’s mother told the police that after completing religious duties on Tuesday night, he had gone out with some friends but didn’t return.

“We are tracking the friends the victim had gone out with. We are also trying to re-trace his movements. We believe that there was some disagreement in the night, which led to this incident. Narcotics might also have been involved. We will know more clearly after the postmortem report comes in,” added the officer.