Salauddin case: Girl, hired killer held

SURI: Police on Friday arrested a 'spurned lover' and a hired gunman for the murder of Kolkata-based businessman Sheikh Mohammad Salauddin. Mili Pal, who claims to have had a long affair with Salauddin, and Bapi Sen were nabbed in Ratanpur village in Murarai, some 80km from Suri, in the wee hours of the morning.
A 9mm pistol was seized from Bapi. Bullet casings of the same calibre were found in Salauddin's car after the murder.Police will send the gun for ballistic tests to match it to the bullet found in the victim's body. Police also recovered Salauddin's PAN card, ATM cards and cellphones from Bapi and Mili, Birbhum SP Nishat Parvez said.
Mili has told CID officers that she hired Bapi to take revenge on Salauddin for "ditching her". Police have been on the lookout for two women who were seen with the trader in a bar-cum-nightclub before he was murdered.
Police started checking up on the victim's acquaintances and the persons he spent the last hours of his life with. The CID had been tracking Mili and Bapi and got tipped off that the duo would arrive at the house of Saheb Seikh, a distant relative of Bapi, in Ratanpur village.
Birbhum police staked out the house from Thursday afternoon. Late at night, the two suspects were seen stealthily approaching the house. As soon as they reached the doorstep, police pounced on them. A CID team brought them to Kolkata on Friday morning.
Birbhum SP Nishat Parvez said, "Tracking their cellphone, we realised that they were headed for Ratanpur. We had information that Bapi had some old connections in this village and his grandmother had a relation with the family of Sahib Seikh. Our men kept the area under watch."
According to CID sources, Mili said that she had a long relationship with Salauddin and grew furious when he changed his mind and started getting close to some girls. She admitted to hiring Bapi to kill him. Police say Bapi was a "tout for girls". Bapi, too, has admitted to shooting Salauddin, say sources.
The two told police that they spent the last few days at hotels in Kolkata and Burdwan. Bapi's grandmother lived in Ratanpur and he had visited the village several times since his childhood, police say.
Saheb Seikh was let off because he said he did not know that Mili and Bapi were suspects in a murder case, said the Birbhum SP. "We did not arrest him but his connections with the duo will be probed," Parvez said.