Trinamool councillor of Ward 108 of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, Sushanta Ghosh, had a close shave on Friday evening, when an assailant tried to fire at him from a close range while he was reportedly sitting in front of his house.
Two shooters had come on a scooter to kill Ghosh. One of them got down to fire at Ghosh from a close range in the city's Kasba area. However, no bullet was released when he pulled the trigger of a handgun as it malfunctioned.
When he failed to fire, he tried to get on the scooter to escape but slipped and began running on foot. Seeing the shooter in a spot, Ghosh also charged at him to catch him. He was later caught by the locals while the other man fled on the scooter. The entire incident was recorded on CCTV.
Following the incident, locals handed him over to the Kolkata Police, who then arrested him. He has been identified as Yuvraj Singh while person who accompanied him is Iqbal. On Saturday, police arrested another suspect in connection with the attack taking the total number of arrested accused to two.
The man who was been arrested today is a taxi driver, Ahmed, who had driven the two accused Yuvraj Singh and his associate Iqbal from Howrah Station to Kolkata's Port area on Thursday night. Ahmed's name surfaced during the Singh's interrogation.
Prime Accused Detained In Purba Bardhaman
Later on Saturday, the police also detained Iqbal alias Afroz Khan alias Gulzar, who had ridden the other accused, Yuvraj Singh, on a two-wheeler to murder TMC councillor. He was detained in West Bengal's Purba Bardhaman district while he was trying to escape to neighbouring Jharkhand, PTI reported.
"Acting on a tip-off that Iqbal was trying to flee to Jharkhand on a two-wheeler through Durgapur Expressway, police intercepted him at a naka point in Galsi and detained him," a senior officer told PTI.
According to the police officer, Iqbal was behind the entire planning of the attempted murder. "It seems that Iqbal is not his real name and he had contacted Yuvraj Singh and convinced him to execute the plan for a payment of Rs 10,000," the officer said.
He futher said that Iqbal was the person who had arranged accommodation for Singh in the Lake Town area of the city and also provided him with the firearm used in the incident.
Shocked by the incident, Ghosh said he had no idea that he would one day be attacked in his own ward where he has been a councillor for 12 years. He also said that he had no idea about who could be behind he attack. Meanwhile, Ghosh's security has been beefed up following the attack, PTI reported.
Kolkata Police Commissioner Manoj Verma visited the spot on Saturday morning to inspect the area.
"Things are under investigation. Two persons have been arrested till now. Further action is being taken. We are taking action. The person who had the weapon in his hand is from Vaishali in Bihar. I cannot talk much about the matter as the investigation is still ongoing," Verma told reporters.