Gudda revenge bid cut short

KOLKATA: A gangster past his prime but desperate for one last, big swing, and a young divorcee, who loves guns and dreams of planning the perfect crime, came together to give police and central Kolkata businessmen sleepless nights for weeks. But in the end, Siddique Zafar alias Gudda and his paramour Samsad Begum alias Putul, bit off more than they could chew.The city's latest crime couple was arrested from a hotelnear Park Street on Sunday when they were planning a series of revenge attacks,say police. They were both remanded in police custody on Monday.Gudda planned to abduct some not-too-high-profile city businessmenbefore "vanishing" from Kolkata's crime scene, at least for the time being. Hewanted to amass enough wealth to sustain a lavish lifestyle, and found theperfect partner in his girlfriend, 24-year-old Samsad. She was always armed andalways at Gudda's side. These and other startling facts came to the fore duringsustained interrogation of the couple, say police sources.When hegot out on bail the last time, a few weeks ago, Gudda faced seven cases of armeddacoity, abduction, murder in Amherst Street, Narkeldanga and Bowbazar hisoriginal turf. After his release, he was desperately regrouping his old gangmembers but managed to get only three of them. "In the last two or threeoperations, he himself led the gang in abducting traders from somewhat crowdedplaces of Kolkata," said joint commissioner (crime) DamayantiSen.With two quick abductions, he managed to unleash fear amongbusinessmen. Then he started making calls for extortion. Some paid up. But theabduction spree set police hot on his heels. Gudda knew this and kept shuttlingbetween Howrah and Sonarpur.Samsad, a divorcee from Tiljala, came incontact with Gudda through a common acquaintance. "The hot headed Gudda wasattracted by her intelligence and poise. In fact, Samsad planned many of hisdaring operations. On Sunday, when officers barged into their hotel room, theywere both armed," said an officer.Among the two known abductionsafter his bail, Gudda picked up trader Mohammed Asmat from the crowdedKabitirtha area in Watgunge. He was released for a hefty ransom. In quicksuccession, he kidnapped real-estate developer Santu Sheikh. Santu was shuttledbetween hideouts in Howrah and Sonarpur, all according to the plan chalked outby Samsad, say police. But revenge was always on Gudda's mind. Justdays after his release on bail, he had arrived at Narkeldanga in a car around6.30pm and spent hours hunting for his rival Mohammed Samsul, a henchman ofGabbar. It was only when he failed to locate him that Gudda went to Topsia andabducted Santu Seikh, said an officer.Gudda has been in and out ofjail for most of his life. At a very young age, he came to Narkeldanga andstepped into the world of crime. He quickly became a terror and had frequentturf wars with his sworn enemy Gabbar. Their enmity continued behindbars where they engaged in fierce battles. He was once arrested in Sankrail,Howrah, and again in Asansol when he went to meet his dyingwife.