Police 'mole', gang held with arms cache

KOLKATA: Policemen tracking the killers of a promoter busted one of the biggest gangs in Rajarhat in a midnight raid on Monday and seized a huge cache of arms. Twelve automatic pistols, two guns and 450 bullets were found in the Baguiati apartment, giving an indication of the kind of weapons flooding the city's northern fringes that have seen a series of real-estate-linked murders. Five gangsters were arrested - Debajyoti Ghosh alias Babai, Bikash Gan, Jiten Singh, Sanjay Singh and Surajit Das, said Subrata Banerjee, DC (HQ) Bidhannagar City Police. Babai and another such police mole, Amit Sinha alias Ramua, have been giving police sleepless nights by using their immunity as informers to gang up with dreaded killers and extortionists and prop up new crime syndicates.Police say Ramua was also in the apartment but escaped by a whisker. A section of officers suspects that Ramua may have, in fact, double-crossed Babai to come up numero uno in the Rajarhat underworld. Bidhannagar police suspect that this gang was behind the murder of building materials supplier Prasenjit Roy, who was gunned down near the airport on Monday morning after a high speed chase on a VIP Road connector. The killer had shot him twice in the head, indicating the use of an automatic pistol or a revolver.The police were stunned to realize that the gangsters had made their headquarters at a flat in a posh residential locality. All five suspects acted as police informers. Bidhannagar police believe that the gang has close links with the booming realty business in Rajarhat and related crimes. Gang rivalry over the real estate trade has led to seven murders in Rajarhat in less than a year. Based on a specific tip, a special team of Bidhannagar police raided a flat near Joramandir in Baguiati, where the gang was camping. Police were surprised to find so many weapons stashed away. They also seized fake Indian currency of Rs 1 lakh, 10 cellphones and two motorcycles. Police said that the syndicate was running by Babai, the alleged mastermind of the murder of Baguiati realtor Pradip Roy in April 2004. After spending three years in jail, he got bail and immediately got involved with an inter-state car theft racket.At that time he used to frequent North Bengal and some parts of the North-East and Bihar, building a network with inter-state gun runners. Babai, who started as a small-time extortionist, reportedly got close to a section of police officers as he moonlighted as an informer. But behind the facade of a police mole, he stepped into the real estate trade and pumped a huge amount of money in Rajarhat, Baguiati and New Town projects. As the gangster's clout grew over the last few years, more than 30 criminals - including some dreaded contract killers - teamed up under him. And they all apparently started working as police informers as well, say sources.Investigation has revealed how Babai used his contacts with a section of police officers, including some CID officers, to wrest monopoly in supplying building materials in large parts of Baguiati and Teghoria, say sources. He continued gun running at the same time.Ramua, meanwhile, ganged up with notorious killer Raja Dutta and Shankar Ram, to challenge Babai. But Babai smartly avoided a confrontation and suggested an area sharing agreement to pacify Ramua. Police have reasons to believe that Ramua was with Babai during the raid on Monday night but managed to escape. Sources hinted that Babai may have paid the price for his rivalry with Ramua, because Ramua is also very close to a section of cops. "Ramua might have nailed Babai to wrest monopoly in the area," said an officer.