By David Greene

Last Thursday evening, as mourners began paying their respects to murder victim Bimal Chanda at the Parkchester Funeral Home, Chanda’s friends joined with community leaders and local elected officials outside of the building to publicly demand answers in his death.

A day earlier, Chanda, 59, died from injuries he suffered during an Oct. 29 attack in his West 190th Street apartment building stairwell.

The wake and press conference last Thursday night were charged with anger and emotion.

As Mohammed Solaiman Ali, a longtime friend of the victim and Community Board 7 member, spoke to a crowd of assembled reporters, his voice cracked with emotion.”I cannot even believe he’s not in the world anymore, this innocent guy,” Ali said. “He’s like a hero. He knew every single thing.”

Chanda, his wife and 16-year-old daughter were in the final stages of moving from the Fordham area to a condo in Parkchester because of concerns about local crime. Sometime before 9 a.m., on Saturday, October 29, Chanda went to a 99 cent store to purchase masking tape for the move.

When he returned to his building at 30 W. 190 Street, assailants attacked Chanda in the second floor stairway. Police believe Chanda was struck in the head with a metal object before falling down a flight of stairs. Chanda was rushed to St. Barnabas Hospital, but died from internal bleeding five days later.

“He went out to get tape, for God’s sake, to finish packing and tape picture frames together,” said Adaline Walker-Santiago-Higgins, a Board 7 member, adding that the timing and place of the attack were suspicious. “A disabled man (Chanda was an acute diabetic) taking the stairs instead of the elevator shows you he knew there was some danger. It’s very sad.”

Bronx Assemblyman Peter Rivera, a former NYPD detective, said, “It’s something that we have way too many, many cases in New York state, in New York City and in the Bronx. It’s something that we have to fight and eliminate and try and make sure that it doesn’t happen again.”

He added: “If I’m not mistaken, homicides have gone down everywhere, unfortunately they may not have gone down as quickly or as much in the Bronx.”

Ali, a Bangladeshi man who befriended Chanda, a native of Calcutta, India, who moved to the Bronx nearly 30 years earlier, said he will start a nonprofit organization in the Fordham community to help local residents find jobs, learn English and get affordable daycare, all in Chanda’s name.

Police say Chanda was the victim of an especially violent mugging and have circulated video of two young male suspects who they believe are connected to the crime. But Ali says that after the attack, Chanda was still in possession of more than $80, all of his credit cards and cell phone.

Chanda is survived by his wife and teenage daughter.