A snatcher unleashed terror in the chief minister’s neighbourhood on Sunday morning, shooting four persons before being overpowered by local residents.

Mohammad Aslam, who had snatched a cellphone on a train, kept loading his single-shotter and firing at passersby while running a kilometre through the “high-security” locality, a 100-strong crowd at his heels.

The spot on Broad Street where Aslam, 24, was finally caught was barely 300 metres from Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s 59 Palm Avenue residence. The Tiljala resident, thrashed by the mob before being turned in, was wanted in several robbery cases.

The four injured were Anita Basu, 40, Prakash Raut, 32, Manoj Gupta, 34, and Prahlad Chowrasia, 37.

Anita was injured in the abdomen, Manoj and Rakesh were hit on the shoulder, while Prahlad took a bullet on his left hand. They are being treated at a local nursing home.

The Bollywood-style chase-and-firing, which played out for half an hour, started around 8.30am, when Aslam jumped off a Sealdah-bound local train near the Bondel Gate level crossing after snatching the cellphone of Rajesh Chaudhury, 25.

“Aslam had timed the snatching well, just when the train slowed while approaching the level crossing. It gave him an opportunity to jump off safely and run,” said an investigating officer.

Rajesh, too, jumped and ran after him, shouting for help to nab the youth. A group of government railway policemen standing nearby joined the chase.

A desperate Aslam scaled a three-ft wall adjacent to the railway tracks and jumped into a slum on the other side. The residents were stunned to see the youth dashing towards Ballygunge Place, brandishing a single-shotter.

“Koi aage aaya to goli mar denge (I will shoot if anybody dares to come near me),” he shouted at the crowd, before taking a left turn and disappearing into Ballygunge Place.

“We were having tea when we saw the armed youth rushing through our bustee. Suspecting foul play, we started running after him,” said Rakesh Shaw. The youth panicked and shot at Anita, who was on her way to the market.

The sound of the gunshot drew more people, swelling the chasing team. Aslam by then had taken a right turn and was running along Bondel Road. Near the Sitala Mandir, he got into a taxi. But seeing that the crowd had almost caught up with him, he immediately got off, fired twice — injuring Prakash and Manoj — and turned right before sprinting down Broad Street.

Near Repose Nursing Home on the street, Aslam fired the fourth bullet, injuring Prahlad. He would have carried on for some more time but for a motorcyclist from behind, who kicked Aslam while riding by. The youth tripped and the mob pounced on him around 9am.

“A cellphone, a single-shotter and a razor were seized from him. He is wanted in several theft and robbery cases,” said an officer of Karaya police station.

Dwarka Nath Ghosh, a local resident who joined in the chase, blamed a section of police for the growing lawlessness in the area — Sunday’s incident was only the latest in a series of crimes over the past year.

The deputy commissioner of police (south), Rajesh Subarna, said security has been boosted in the neighbourhood.