Two held for firing outside Agartala restaurant

AGARTALA: Two persons, including a BJP leader of the Ushabazar area in Agartala, were arrested on Wednesday morning from the airport area in connection with the firing outside a restaurant on VIP Road in the city the previous night, leaving two youths injured.
Both the accused were named in the FIR along with two others who are still on the run. However, police have not yet been able to recover the arms used in the incident.Two vehicles from where the assailants opened fire were also recovered, said SDPO (Sadar) Ajoy Das. The accused were produced in a local court that sent them to 5-day police remand.
The accused were identified as Prabhakar Ghosh (40), secretary of Bharat Ratna Club and also the outgoing secretary of BJP’s Barjala Mandal Committee, and Santosh Das (35) of the locality. Police launched an investigation based on the FIR filed by a companion of the victims and detained the two from a hideout.
Sources said both the accused are allegedly close to local BJP MLA Dilip Das and have been involved in several crimes, including narcotics smuggling, for three years. They said the police couldn’t take any action against them for their political connections.
The injured, identified as Sanjay Das and Haripad Das of Nutannagar area of the locality, have been shifted to hospital and are out of danger now. While Sajoy was hit by a bullet in the wrist, Haripada sutained injuries in the leg and hand, the police said. The injured persons, along with four others, were having food outside the restaurant when miscreants came in two vehicles, fired indiscriminately and fled towards the airport.