‘Gang member’ involved in gun attack in Jamshedpur held after cab driver's alert
Telegraph | 22 February 2025
A cab driver who overheard a conversation among a group of men he was ferrying on Wednesday night suspected they had committed a crime somewhere beyond Bengal and were trying to take shelter in the city.
The driver slowed down spotting police near Chingrighata along EM Bypass and shouted to the officer on night duty to arrest those in his taxi.
Four of the passengers managed to get off and flee while one fell. He was arrested.
Mohammad Asif, who was arrested, later turned out to be a member of a gang allegedly involved in a recent gun-shot attack on a person in Jamshedpur’s Bistupur, police said.
He was on the run, the cops said.
Asif was brought to Pragati Maidan police station in the cab that he had boarded with his alleged gang members at Santragachhi station.
They were allegedly headed to a New Town housing complex.
After hours of interrogation, the police said it appeared Asif was one of the members of the Jharkhand-based gang that was involved in opening fire on a person in Jamshedpur recently.
After fleeing Jamshedpur, the gang reached Ghatshila and took a train to Santragachi on Wednesday night, the police said based on Asif’s account.
A search is on for the four who fled from the cab.
“A team of officers from Jharkhand police have reached the city to take Asif to Jamshedpur on transit remand after producing him before a court,” said a senior police officer of Kolkata Police’s East division.
“Prima facie, we have learnt that the gang was headed for Shapoorji in New Town.”
The cab driver told the police that he approached the five men soon after they stepped out of the Santragachi railway station on Wednesday night.
The group said they wanted to go to a particular destination in the city proper and accordingly a fare was fixed, he told the cops.
After travelling some distance, the driver was asked to drive towards Shapoorji in New Town.
The cab driver told the police that he informed the men that changing the destination would cost them more but that had not bothered them.
“The driver said he overheard conversations suggesting that the men were on the run after committing a crime. One of the members even told someone on his mobile phone to take care of his mother for some time till they remained underground,” said a senior police officer.
On reaching Chingrighata, the driver spotted an officer on night duty and slowed down before raising the alarm.
Asif was arrested while the other four men fled.
“Initially, Asif tried to mislead us. A grab of a newspaper report of the firing in Jamshedpur was on his mobile phone. That gave things away,” the officer said.
“We immediately contacted Jharkhand police and they told us about the gang members and the firing incident,” he said.
After questioning Asif, the police learnt that the brother of one of the five men was in Calcutta pursuing academics.
The officer said it was not clear if that had prompted the men to choose to travel to the city.