Partha Ghosh and Srabonti’s house in Jagacha. A Telegraph picture

Howrah police on Tuesday questioned Indrajit Das, alias Chandan, his wife Shyamashree, her brother Sadhan Pradhan and her friend Samir Barik in connection with the double murder at Jagacha. Barik has a criminal past.

Shyamashree had visited her neighbour Srabonti Ghosh in her house on February 26, before she and her eight year-old daughter Prapti were found murdered in a bedroom. Srabonti’s husband was at work.

Chandan, Pradhan and Barik were brought to Jagacha police station late on Tuesday, while Shyamashree was questioned in her house.

According to the police, Shyamashree had called Barik twice on February 26. Srabonti, too, knew him and he had visited her house several times in the recent past.

“Shyamashree called Barik at 12.30pm and 3.30pm on February 26. They used to talk every day but did not call each other after the day of the murders,” said an officer of the police station.

He hinted that the post-mortem had revealed that the homemaker and her daughter were killed between 3pm and 4pm.

After examining the call records of Shyamashree’s phone, the investigators started looking for Barik. He was traced to Duttapukur, in Narkeldanga.

“Barik has been involved in crimes in the past. We learnt that Shyamashree had introduced him to Srabonti and they had become friends,” added the officer.

Srabonti was found with her throat slit and injuries on her body, while Prapti was stabbed and throttled with a pillow. Srabonti’s husband Partha, a BPO employee, was in his Chowringhee office at the time.

Neighbours told the police that they saw Shyamashree enter the Ghosh house around 1pm and later heard her arguing with Srabonti.

“Shyamashree denied arguing with Srabonti but we found several contradictions in her statement. A conspiracy led to the murder and we suspect that Srabonti knew her killers,” the officer said.

A red coral bangle was found in the bedroom where the bodies were found. Partha and others said that the bangle didn’t belong to Srabonti.

This made the police suspect that a woman was present in the house at the time of the murders.