‘Gang fired shots, vandalised car & bike, threatened arson, then sauntered away’

Kolkata: What residents of Purba Phoolbagan area in Baghajatin initially assumed to be late-night celebrations with firecrackers shortly turned out to be gunshots. Familiarity with political violence notwithstanding, the shooting around 12.45 am-1 am on Thursday shook up residents, who said it felt like watching a scene out of a Hindi potboiler. "It is not only about a murder but how it was committed. The shooting happened on the terrace of our building, it was frightening and traumatising. Even after the bullets were shot, the gang members remained in the neighbourhood for over 10 minutes, terrorising everyone, vandalizing a bike and a car and crying arson. They then sauntered away. Meanwhile, Jeet was bleeding all over and his wife, Ruma, was crying for help," said a resident, who along with his daughter, watched police proceedings on Thursday morning. Four persons have been arrested.Soma Dutta, who lives in the neighbourhood, was jolted out of sleep by the loud bangs, which she mistook for that of firecrackers. As she and her husband peeped out of the window, they realised it was a shooting. "Five to six shots were fired one after the other. As we looked out of the window, we saw six men around the entrance of our building. They vandalised Jeet's bike and then, turned their attention to his car. It seemed they wanted to set everything on fire," Dutta told TOI on Thursday. "We were worried about our car, which my husband parked outside as Jeet and his friends had kept their bikes in our garage slot." Another resident, Kabita Dasgupta, told TOI Jeet's wife, their small daughter in tow, began banging on neighbours' doors, crying for help to save Jeet and his friend, Rahul Dey. "These residents mustered courage and came forward to help. On seeing people coming out of their homes, the accused gang walked away though they neither showed fear nor repentance. They walked to a distance and then, rode away on their bikes," she said.Most in the neighbourhood seemed to be aware of Jeet's criminal records. "But he has a different image in the locality. He and Rahul, who lived in Chatterjee Colony, would always be there for people. Recently, Jeet played a crucial role when a fire broke out here. He also used his political connections to help people out with the state welfare schemes," said Abhijit Dutta, a resident.But not all were impressed with Jeet's image. "He is not exactly a role model. He holds parties at odd hours, usurps garage space, but no one dares to protest, given his political clout," said a resident .Political members, including Trinamool Jadavpur aspirant Debabrata Majumdar and CPM nominee Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya visited the place in the morning. Residents demanded that CCTV cameras be installed in the area immediately, pointing out multiple meetings with the administration yielded no result. Police also found most CCTV cameras in nearby areas broken, including the one at the KMC Ward 101 office.