Kolkata: Police probing hotel owner's death

Kolkata: The police is investigating the death of a hotel owner in Howrah town caused allegedly by repeated threat calls over phone from a local gangster.

Sumit Naha, the hotel owner, died on Monday following a heart attack after he was threatened repeatedly over phone by Dipak Shaw, the gangster operating in the Howrah station area, his mother Manjudebi alleged.

DC (Headquarters), Howrah Police Commissionerate, Nishant Parvez said, "We are investigating the case. We have not made any arrest so far, but the raid is on."

The victim's family handed over the police a CCTV footage of gangster Dipak Shaw, who operates in the Howrah station area, attacking the hotel's manager, Ashish Manna, Manjudebi said.

She claimed that hotel manager Ashis Manna had lodged a complaint with the Golabari police station three days ago submitting a CD of the CCTV footage and giving an account of how the goons kept the manager under pressure for their access to the hotel.

She alleged that on Sunday midnight, a person who identified himself as Riaz, companion of Dipak, called up repeatedly threatening to kill her son unless they withdrew the complaint.

Alleging Dipak's link with Trinamool Congress, Manjudebi said that her son was looking extremely tensed after receiving repeated threat calls and succumbed to a massive heart attack during wee hours on Monday. Later he was declared dead at a local nursing home.

The gangster operates in the Howrah station area where the Naha family has been running "Bridge Lodge" for four decades. The hotel owner lived in Baguihati with his wife, two minor kids and septuagenarian mother.

Trinamool Congress Howrah District President Aroop Roy, however, denied his party's link with the gangster. "Trinamool Congress is not involved in this incident in any way," Roy said.

Roy, also the state's Agricultural Marketing Minister, said, "We had expelled Dipak from the party in 2010 because of his anti-social link. He is not even an ordinary member now."

"We have asked the Police Commissioner to arrest Dipak immediately and take stern measures according to law," Roy said.

Meanwhile, Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly Surjya Kanta Mishra visited the victim's residence to console the family members.