The police have slapped murder charges against reality television show producers, who had allegedly pushed off a hotel caretaker from the fifth floor terrace.

This came after the caretaker of West Midnapore’s Ritz Hotel, Prasun Adhikary, succumbed to injuries on Monday night.

The police have ruled out the claims made by the producers that Adhikary (23) had fallen while he was trying to escape.

The crew of the show had alleged that Adhikary had harassed the female contestants who were staying in the hotel.

“We have filed charges under Section 302 of the IPC against the accused Gautam Jain, Rajiv Mehra and contestant Somnath Roy Chowdhury,” said R K Singh, Superintendent of Police (West Midnapore).

The accused have been in five-day police remand since Saturday, when the incident took place.

“It is highly unlikely that Adhikary fell while he was trying to escape. Prasun knew of the other ways to exit the fifth floor. Moreover, the manner in which his body was positioned indicated that he was pushed and he did not jump off,” Singh said.

Investigators are banking on Adhikary’s postmortem report that may provide them with evidence that he was pushed off from the terrace.

The police, meanwhile, are looking for Romi Nag Chowdhury, one of the contestants of the reality show, who is among the accused.

A special investigating team from Midnapore raided her apartment in Lake Town in Kolkata on Tuesday but did not find her.

According to sources, Romi fled the hotel immediately after the incident.

Later in the day, Adhikary’s friends, colleagues and members of various local clubs of West Midnapore protested and demanded punishment for the accused.