“We suspect that the couple was murdered sometime on Saturday, a case of murder has been registered,” said Somen Mitra, Inspector General of Police (Special).

Ramaprasad Verma and his wife lived on a fourth floor flat on Kings Road, Howrah, while their children Sandip and Abhishek work in Mumbai. The couple owned a garment shop in the AC market in Howrah.

According to the police, Sandip and Abhishek used to regularly call up their parents from Mumbai. On Sunday, around 11:30 am, both of them tried to call the couple, but no one answered the phone.

Sandip then called up his uncle Mahendra Verma, who lives nearby, to find out his parents’ whereabouts. Verma sent his son to the couple’s house, but finding the front door locked, his son returned back. Since the couple frequently visited a Burrabazar temple, Verma waited for some more time for the couple to return. But when he found the door still locked till late in the evening, he informed the police.

The police broke open the front door and found the couple lying in their bedroom. They were immediately rushed to a nearby hospital where doctors declared them dead on arrival.

“It seems that someone wanted it to look like a suicide. But the way the couple were tied to a single rope, indicate that the couple were actually murdered,” said Mitra.

Police sources said the postmortem report confirmed that the couple was throttled to death with the nylon rope.

The report also indicated that three or more persons might be involved in the crime.