An ex-Bronx cabbie — beaten to death for a measly $15 — had just moved out of the building where he was mugged, and had plans to help bring jobs back into the depressed neighborhood, a family friend said today.
Bimal Chanda, 59, died Wednesday of injuries he sustained in the brutal beatdown Saturday morning. The Calcutta, India, native’s funeral is tonight at a Parkchester funeral home.
“He had no enemies,” said family friend Mohammed Solaiman Ali. “He wanted to do a lot of good things for the community.”
Ali said Chanda and his wife Chaya had lived in their West 190th Street third-floor apartment in Fordham for 28 years, raising their 16-year-old daughter there.
But two days before he was attacked, they had finally moved to a condo in Parkchester, escaping a neighborhood that had fallen on hard times and become dangerous, Ali said.
Around 9 a.m. on Saturday, Chanda and his wife “came back to get a few things — she sent him to the store from tape,” Ali said.
On his way back, he was followed inside the building by two men, who attacked him on a 2nd floor stairway, struck him on the head with a metal object — and then grabbed $15 before fleeing, authorities said.
“My husband may be dying,” his wife screamed, according to the building super, Carmelo Agramonte. “He’s on the floor — somebody hit him.”
Chanda was rushed to St. Barnabas Hospital, where he died yesterday at about 6a.m.
Ironically, Ali said the thugs didn’t take all the money Chanda had — around $90 and a cell phone were found still untouched in his pocket, he said.
“I don’t know why he was a target,” Ali said. “He was … such a nice person.”
Ali said Chanda became disabled two years ago and stopped driving a cab. But he had big plans all the same.
He said his friend was planning to start a non-rpfit to help reduce unemployment in the Bronx — and wanted also to open a small business.
Agramonte, 42, said the quiet family would be missed.
“I’d see the guy every day,” he said. “He’s a nice guy.”
Neighbors were crushed by Chanda’s death as well.
“Everybody in the building is very upset,” said a next-door neighbor. “Everybody is heartbroken about this. He was a very nice family man. “
Another woman added: “He was a good father, a good husband, a good human being. It breaks our heart.”
Police this afternoon released a video of two suspects, but had made no arrests.