CUTTACK: Forty-eight-year-old lawyer Aryabhusan Choudhury whose body was recovered from a well on the premises of his house on March 14 was allegedly murdered by a broker who wanted to usurp the former’s land sale proceeds, Commissionerate police claimed on Tuesday.
Police arrested the broker, identified as Sukant Das. The accused had apparently hacked the lawyer to death and dumped his body in the well of his house located in Bidanasi. He had also sold the land to another person by forging land documents, DCP Pinak Mishra said.
Choudhury owned a patch of land at Bidanasi Nuasahi and built a house on it. He had rented out the house after living there for three years. Recently, he expressed his intention of selling the land and Das assured him of arranging a buyer. Police said, Das contacted his associate Manas Mishra and arranged a meeting with Choudhury on March 9. After their meeting, the accused called Choudhury to Bidanasi Nuasahi for a discussion on the deal.
Das, who had come prepared to usurp the proceeds of the sale, then hacked Choudhury to death with a sharp weapon and dumped the body in the well on the premises. The accused also covered the body and the murder weapon with mats and cartons to avoid detection. The next day, the accused introduced Mishra to one Rakesh Singh. He told Singh that Mishra was an advocate and owner of the land. Singh, who agreed to the deal for Rs 5 lakh, paid Rs 50,000 towards advance of which Das kept Rs 40,000 while the rest went to Mishra.
The matter came to light when Choudhury’s mother Kanakalata (60) reached the house on March 12 morning looking for her missing son and found a wall had been constructed on the spot. Singh told her that he purchased the land from her son. When Kanakalata said she was unaware of the deal and his son was missing since March 9 night, Singh dug deep and found that he had been defrauded. He then filed a case with Bidanasi police station. Kanakalata also filed a missing complaint with police on March 13.