Housewife Murdered in Howrah Over Loan Dispute
Tragic Incident in Howrah
Representational Image
Kolkata, June 22: A tragic incident unfolded in the Shibpur area of Howrah district, where a housewife named Bharati Hazra was brutally murdered, allegedly due to her inability to repay a loan in full, as reported by local authorities on Monday.
The police revealed that the incident occurred on Sunday evening. Bharati's husband claimed that her death was a direct result of her failure to settle the loan in a single payment.
Authorities are currently reviewing CCTV footage from the vicinity to track down the assailant.
Witnesses reported seeing four individuals on two motorcycles behaving suspiciously in the area on the evening of the incident.
It has been reported that one of the suspects called Bharati outside her home. As she opened the door, she was viciously attacked with a sharp object right at her doorstep. The attackers fled the scene immediately after the assault.
Family members disclosed that the 40-year-old woman had borrowed Rs 50,000 from a local resident in the Kasundiya Shibtala area and had been making timely monthly repayments.
However, her husband alleged that they had been under increasing pressure to repay the entire loan amount at once for several days, which was financially unfeasible for them.
He further claimed that they had received multiple threats to their lives.
In an interview with local media, the husband recounted, "On Sunday evening, a man called my wife to come downstairs. When she didn’t return after some time, I went down and found her lying on the stairs, bleeding profusely. She had a severe neck injury and collapsed shortly after. I rushed her to a nearby hospital, but she was declared dead on arrival."
The police were promptly notified of the murder, and investigators collected blood and soil samples from the crime scene.
The body has been sent for an autopsy to determine the cause of death.
A senior official from Howrah City Police stated, "We have uncovered several leads during our investigation, but the precise motive behind the murder remains unclear. We are working diligently to identify the perpetrators by analyzing the CCTV footage from the area."
Additionally, investigators are looking into the husband's involvement to verify the authenticity of his claims regarding the loan pressure as a motive for the murder.