A young BPO professional was found dead in mysterious circumstances at Elliot Road on Wednesday morning after his colleagues and elder brother allegedly locked him up in a sedan in a drunken state and left for home. The deceased, Sheikh Shoaib Alam, 22, was a resident of Ripon Street. His elder brother Sheikh Shabbir and two friends — Aqueel Ansari and Jamshed Alam — who worked with him at a call centre at Royd Street were arrested by the Park Street police.
Shoaib and his colleague Tabeesh Ahmed had consumed liquor with the three after work, well past Tuesday midnight, at Elliot Road, deputy commissioner of police (south) D.P. Singh said. They then went to drop a female colleague in Tabeesh’s sedan near South City Mall and returned to Elliot Road early morning. At around 6.45 am, Shoaib’s uncle Sheikh Akhtar saw him with his friends in the car near Loreto School. He was taking his children to school then. That was the last when Shoaib was seen.
Joint commissioner of police (crime) Pallab Kanti Ghosh said, “Shoaib was in such an inebriated state that his friends failed to move him out of the car. They decided to leave him in the car and drop him home later when he would return to normal state. Aqueel, Jamshed and Shabbir came out and Tabeesh locked the car, leaving the AC switched on. Shoaib remained inside.”
Riding his two-wheeler, Tabeesh told a roadside tea-stall owner that they would return soon. In the meantime, if Shoaib woke up, they told him to inform his family and left, Mr Ghosh elaborated. At around 10 am, the tea-stall owner alerted Shoaib’s family after finding him still asleep. “His relatives came and broke the glass pane of the car, only to find him dead. No injuries were found on the body,” Mr Singh added. The body was sent for post-mortem.