Mom dead, father behind bars, toddler left all alone

KOLKATA: The three-and-a-half-year-old son of civic volunteer Shampa Das (34), who was murdered at the behest of her husband, has refused to touch a morsel in the past four days. His maternal uncles and aunts, who are trying their best to comfort him, said the child had been pestering them for an answer, desperately looking for his mother: "Where is mom? Dad said there had been a theft. Then where has mom gone to?"
The boy, who was witness to his mother lying on the floor, blood-spattered, was initially told she was in hospital. Ironically, when he saw his relatives mourning, the child tried to console them, little knowing they were grieving over his mother. "We completed Shampa's last rites on Monday. All along, he kept telling us not to cry," said a family member. "We do not know who's going to raise him. Everyone has a job. Whom is he going to stay at home with when we go out? Even his grandparents are no more."

Shampa's younger sister Soma Biswas, also a civic volunteer, told TOI she was the last to see her sister return from work. "We are both posted at Eco Park. My sister was in a hurry that day as she said that there was someone at home. She never shared her problems but it had recently become clear that there was something wrong between him and her husband, Supratim. She pointed out that the two had a recent disagreement over Supratim hiring Rashid Molla-he turned out to be the one who helped Suprtaim contract the killers-for his physiotherapy. "My sister knew Rashid knew nothing of physiotherapy yet charged a bomb for that. Little did we know that the two were actually plotting my sister's murder," Soma told TOI.

The Airport police have arrested two more killers, Neeraj Sahu and Hafizul Mollah, whom Supratim had contracted. With the two being picked up from Michaelnagar area, the total number of arrests now stands at five. Supratim had contracted the killers for Rs 1 lakh, with Rs 60,000 supposed to be paid as advance and the rest "after operation", the police said. So far, the accused had been paid Rs 59,000. "Three men kept waiting at the door. The moment Shampa stepped in, she was hit on the head with an iron bar before being smothered to death with a pillow. Shampa was still in her uniform when the incident took place. The three killers had tried twice earlier to murder her in the past six months but failed in both attempts as 'conditions did not favour them'," the police said.