Entally shootout: Four more criminals arrested

The city police have arrested four criminals for their alleged involvement in the shootout that took place at Entally on June 16, in which a person was killed. Police have arrested six persons in this connection so far.

Acting on a tip-off, senior officers of the city police raided the Bamungachhi area in North 24 Parganas on Sunday night and caught the criminals from their hideout. They were remanded to police custody after being produced before the Sealdah Court on Monday.

The four accused who were arrested on Sunday night have been identified as Kalta Shamim, Sakil Hossain, Md Kelo and Md Bapi. Shamim was identified as the prime accused in the shootout. Police said that all the accused were involved in various criminal activities in the city.

Following the incident, in which a local promoter Sheikh Aslam was shot dead, the investigating officers were keeping a close watch on another promoter in the area named Niazul. Police came to know in the course of investigation that the arrested persons belonged to Niazul’s camp. On the day of the shootout, the accused came on motorcycles and fired at the victim. He was eventually taken to Nilratan Sarkar Medical 

College and Hospital, and later to a private nursing home, where he succumbed to his injuries. 

The incident had triggered tension in the area. Local people had set fire to the motor cycle in which the miscreants fled while shooting Aslam. 

The locals also put up a road block and did not allow the police to enter the area. A large contingent of police led by Debasmita Das, Deputy Commissioner of Police Eastern Suburban division, rushed to the spot and brought the situation under control.

Local people had alleged that despite several complaints, police did not take any steps to curb criminal activities in the area. Many local residents said that three criminals belonging to the Niazul group came to the area on the morning of the incident and started bursting small bombs to scare them. Later, four youth came on two motorbikes and surrounded Aslam near his residence and fired at him from a point blank range. Hearing him scream, the locals tried to chase the miscreants. Two of them left the motorbike at the spot and escaped, while the other two fled on a bike.

During the course of the investigation, police had earlier arrested Niazul and after interrogating him they arrested another accused who was involved in the shootout.  Local people alleged that for some time there had been clashes between the groups of Sheikh Masad and Iqbal, promoters of a building, and Niazul over the sale of a flat. Local people alleged that the flats had been sold four times by the promoters for whom Aslam used to work.