Gunmen knew area well: Cops, hunt on for masked assailants in Baranagar shooting
Telegraph | 24 November 2025
Two men who allegedly fired at a 53-year-old man when he stepped out of his apartment to dump garbage in Baranagar's Northern Park early on Friday, wore masks and had helmets covering their heads to hide their identities, police said on Saturday.
The duo came riding a two-wheeler and took the shortest route to Belgharia Expressway after the attack, suggesting that they knew the place well, an officer said.
Bikash Majumder had a close shave after he managed to duck the pellets that one of the two men fired from a pipe gun around 6.30am on Friday.
The police said a preliminary investigation revealed that the two waited on a two-wheeler near the turn of a lane that Majumder took to walk down to a nearby dumpyard.
"The men had drawn up a clear exit route. The Belgharia Expressway is relatively easier to drive down compared to the congested BT Road, and one can quickly reach Bally in Howrah from Baranagar down the expressway because of the lack of traffic signals," a senior officer of Barrackpore Police Commissionerate said.
An employee of the state transport department, Majumder, works in a tram depot under the Calcutta Tramways Company (CTC) in Nonapukur near Park Circus.
Some of the fired pellets grazed past Majumder's right arm and his neck when he tried to cover himself. Neighbours rushed him to Baranagar State General Hospital, from where he was discharged after treatment.
"A part of Majumder's daily routine involved stepping out of his apartment between 6.15 and 6.30am to throw the waste. He would walk a few steps carrying a bucket and return in a few minutes," the officer said. "We have spoken to the family and collected details. A search is on to identify those who attacked him."
Footage from closed-circuit cameras installed in and around Majumder's neighbourhood showed the attackers speeding away, the police said. Officers have shared the footage with their counterparts in Howrah and Kolkata, and a note has been sent to several police stations, instructing officers to verify the details of the two-wheeler and its riders who crossed Bally Bridge between 6.30 and 7am on Friday.
A team from the detective department of the Barrackpore police commissionerate and Baranagar police station visited the locality on Saturday to speak to Majumder's neighbours before meeting the family.
Northern Park is a quiet locality near Dunlop, under the jurisdiction of Baranagar police station.
Majumder has been living with his family on the second floor of a building for several years. A section of Majumder's neighbours said he was a quiet man who preferred to spend time with his family after returning from work.
"It is still not clear whether the two men who fired from a pipe gun were trained shooters or not. If the aim was to kill the man, they could have fired multiple times even after the victim ducked. But that did not happen," the police officer said.