Assam’s Barak Valley region.

The spine-chilling September 9 (Sunday) murder of 69-year-old Kanchan Devi Chhacher who used to run “Tulsi Sweets”located in the busy market place of Rangirkhari area in Silchar, was a shocker as well as an eye-opener for the residents of this sleepy town. She used to live alone in a flat on the 4th floor of Ram Krishna Vihar at Sundari Mohan Road, not far from her shop. Her son Anil Chhacher, engaged in business, lives in Bangalore. According to police records, it was the first incident of ‘murder in a flat’ in Barak Valley. The common people in the town were shell-shocked by the brutal murder which was carried out by not professionals but  two amateurs lured into the act with a bait of `two lakh only offered  by the alleged mastermind and key conspirator  one Radhanath Yadav (65).
 
It was, however, a relief that the police investigation team could crack the case in no time, thanks to the clues provided by footages recorded in CCTV cameras installed in the house of the victim. In fact, Kanchan Devi and her son apparently had a premonition of something worse  happening to her on the basis of the  sequences of events  related to a property dispute  with  Radhanath Yadav.  The apprehension prompted them to install four CCTV cameras in her spacious flat. Though the gadgets could not save her life, vital clues provided by those came handy for police to identify the killers and nab them prompt.

Police informed that after committing the crime, the criminals became aware of presence of two of the CCTV cameras and broke those. However, the remaining two cameras had graphic details of the crime and the criminals were identified much to the glee of police investigators.

One of the murders was identified as Bishnu Goala (40), the milkman who used to supply milk to Tulsi Sweets. The other was a 14-year-old class IX student Sanju Goala. Sanju was a nephew of Bishnu. The uncle and his nephew combined forces to end the life of helpless Kanchan Devi so mercilessly.

Why was the murder?

Kanchan Devi’s employees at Tulsi Sweets who as usual entered the flat around 9 P.M, just half an hour after the gruesome incident, and were aghast to see Kanchan Devi lying on the floor of the living room with a deep and dark spot on her neck. It became clear that she was strangulated to death. She was first rushed to a nursing home and then to Silchar Medical College and Hospital where she was declared ‘brought dead’. On being informed, a police team from the Rangirkhari  outpost as well as main police station at Silchar rushed to the spot. Additional superintendent of police, Jayanta Chowdhury, also came to help investigation. It was not difficult to achieve breakthrough with all available evidence — circumstantial, audio as well as visual. Within 48 hours, the mastermind and the killers were taken into custody and their grilling led to prompt unearthing of the ghastly plot.

Superintendent of police, Diganta Bora, narrated the circumstances under which Kanchan Devi was eliminated. In 1994, her late husband, Bhajan Lal Chhacher took on rent the premises of Radhanath Yadav. After the death of Bhajan Lal in 2005, his son Anil Chhacher entered into a contract for 3 years of rent for the premises on which their Tulsi Sweets used to run business. In 2009, Yadav asked Chhachers to vacate the premises which latter refused. Anil even got an injunction from the Court on the eviction notice and started paying the monthly rent of Rs 12 thousand to Radhanath Yadav through legal procedure.

This was the genesis of rift which led Radhanath Yadav to conspire to kill Kanchan Devi. The legal wrangling went on with five court cases between them. Yadav had even used muscle power to evict Chhachers. Apprehending something foul play, Anil took the initiative to install the CCTV cameras in different locations of the flat. Radhanath decided to engage Bishnu Goala, who, he thought, would be hardly suspected because of his close acquaintance with Chhachers. Yadav offered Bishnu a bait of Rs 2 lakh for eliminating Kanchan Devi. Since Bishnu had a debt of Rs 3.5 lakh in the market, he accepted bait as he was desperate to clear larger part of the debt.

Bishnu Goala remembered Kanchan Devi had once asked him for a domestic help (boy) for the in-laws of her granddaughter who lives in the commercial Janiganj locality in the heart of the town. A day before the crime took place , Bishnu had come to the flat of Kanchan Devi and told her that his nephew could be engaged in for her granddaughter’s residence. Accordingly, on the fateful Sunday around 8.15 P.M, Bishnu brought Sanju whom he had already indoctrinated for the crime to be committed. Bishnu had also taken with him a bottle of milk for Kanchan Devi who opened the door of the flat and kept them waiting outside while talking to her granddaughter over telephone about Sanju.

They were allowed inside the flat. As planned Bishnu asked for a glass of water and then Sanju too did the same. When Kanchan Devi went to the kitchen for the second time to fetch water for Sanju, Bishnu followed her and as she was to come out, he grabbed her from behind and pulled her down on the floor. He along with Sanju then caught hold of her feet and neck before strangulating her to death. Both of them, then took away the bunch of keys tied to the waist of Kanchan Devi, opened the steel almirah and took away bundles of currency notes worth Rs 90,000(ninety thousand).
 
Investigating officer, Jitumani Goswami, officer-in-charge of Rangirkhari police station, who was assisted by the office-in-charge of Silchar Police Station, Sachindra Sarma, did not face any difficulty in nabbing  Bishnu first from the Link Road of this town while Sanju was picked up from his maternal uncle’s house at Arunaband, near the airport. Radhanath Yadav was arrested from his residence at Rangirkhari. Bishnu and Sanju confessed to have committed the crime, but Radhanath has remained in denial mode. All of them have been booked U/S 120 (B) 302/427/379 IPC vide case No. SLC 1798/12. On production before the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) in Silchar , Radhanath was sent to jail while Bishnu was sent to police remand of 14 days. Considering the age of Sanju, the police was directed by the Court sent him to Boko state home in the district of Kamrup. Of the Rs 90,000 robbed from the residence of the victim Kanchan Devi, police could recover Rs 80,000 from the possession of Bishnu.

‘Murder in a flat’ was something unprecedented that has happened  in  the remote and peaceful town of Silchar. It has exposed the danger of living alone in a flat especially  for aged persons. Despite installing four CCTV cameras, Kanchan Devi could not save herself. The murder   could have been averted if the residential  complex had security guards to monitor visiting non residents.