Street sweepers discovered a pensioner's corpse stuffed in a suitcase in India.

The cleaners were clearing vegetation from a canal in the New Town area of Calcutta when they found the bloodstained trolley lying in the channel on March 23 morning.

They opened the luggage - only to find a dead body inside. The locals called the police, who have identified the deceased as Subodh Sarkar, 70, from a nearby village.

Police believe the cause of death was a blow to the head from a blunt object. They added that the area had no CCTV coverage.

Investigations found that the killing was linked to two individuals who were apprehended at a checkpoint near the Dehati Bridge in Patashpur, East Midnapore.

A Patashpur police spokesman said: 'When the car boot was opened, we found blood inside and immediately detained the two individuals.'

One of them was Soumya Kanti Jana, a bank employee from whom the Subodh had been collecting debt.

Manav Singhal, deputy commissioner of police in New Town, told local media that the two had known each other for years as the victim had an account in the branch where Soumya was posted.

He said: 'Sarkar had lent Jana a substantial sum and was asking him for a few months to return the money.'

Soumya allegedly admitted to the crime, claiming 'financial disagreements' had driven him to kill the pensioner.

Uttam Dey, the driver of the cab used to dump Subodh's body, reportedly also testified against Soumya.

A senior cop told local media: 'At a private bank branch in Nimta, where Jana was employed as a relationship manager, Sarkar had moved about INR 1 crore. Sarkar began to trust Jana after a few exchanges with him.

'However, their disagreement over Sarkar's money appears to have been the driving force behind the murder. Jana reported to the police that Sarkar had died in the car in the Barrackpore area.'

Authorities said Subodh was a widower who had previously owned a printing press company in Bhubaneswar city. Before his death, he had been living for three months in a rented apartment in Belgharia.