A day after the police arrested two people for trying to shoot Trinamool Congress councillor Sushanta Ghosh on Friday evening while he was sitting outside his house, the main accused in the attack, Afroz Khan alias Gulzar, has admitted to attempting the murder citing retaliation for alleged land
encroachment.

Accused Afroz was produced in the court on Sunday, which remanded him in police custody till November 29.

According to the police, during questioning Afroz said that his 2,000 square feet of land was forcibly occupied by Hyder Ali, a close associate of TMC councillor Ghosh and despite approaching the councillor for resolution, Afroz claimed that his pleas were ignored.

Afroz allegedly teamed up with one Sheikh Iqbal from Bihar’s Munger and conspired to eliminate Ghosh with a hefty price tag of Rupees 10 lakh attached to the murder plot, the police said, adding that further investigation is on.

Afroz, a resident of Gulzar Colony under Anandapur Police Station in Kolkata, was apprehended by police on Saturday afternoon in the Udochti area of Galsi, on National Highway 19, while attempting to flee towards Jharkhand.

Additionally, the police on Saturday also arrested a taxi driver, Ahmed, in connection with the incident. Another accused, Yuvraj Singh, who rode with Afroz on a two-wheeler on Friday night, to attack Ghosh, was arrested right after the incident. Singh was produced in the court on Saturday.

Sushanta Ghosh, the TMC councillor of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) ward no 108, had a close shave on Friday evening, when a handgun used by accused Yuvraj Singh to open fire at the councilor from a close range in Kasba area, failed to discharge the bullet due to a mechanical fault.

A purported video of the incident showed two men on a bike in the area, when one of them walks up to Ghosh with a gun and tries to fire at him from close range, but the gun malfunctions. While the man on the bike manages to flee, the other man who tried to shoot Ghosh is caught and later arrested.

Meanwhile, the police have beefed up Sushanta Ghosh’s security.