Three suspected killers who were on the run after allegedly gunning down a businessman in Rajasthan were caught in Calcutta on Thursday night after their suspicious movement near food stalls around Swabhumi, police officers said. They had been on the run for nearly two weeks and were caught after a tip-off.
A call was made to Phoolbagan police station by someone who noticed a group of men moving suspiciously between phuchka and fruit juice stalls near Swabhumi.
“Someone on the road alerted us about a few men who were well-built, almost bald, and speaking in a different language. They were hopping around from one phuchka stall to another and also trying the fruit juice stalls,” said a senior Kolkata Police officer.
A patrol team reached the area and found three men wearing jeans and sweatshirts. “Initially, two of them tried to act smart and said they were tourists. But the third, standing around 20 metres away, started to run,” said the officer.
The man who ran was later identified as Dharmendra Gurjar, one of the accused in the October 7 murder of Ramesh Rulania, a businessman from Rajasthan’s Kuchaman. Dharmendra ran towards the nearby Hyatt Regency hotel, scaled a wall, and entered the Purbachal Cluster IV housing complex on EM Bypass, trying to evade the police.
He found a back door open in one of the ground-floor apartments in the complex and entered the house of a college teacher in Block M. The resident, Ankur Bhowal, said the man was shouting “chor, chor” as he entered.
“I was standing near the main door when I heard the back door slam. Someone had entered the house. I confronted him and told him to leave. He quietly walked out through the front door. Luckily, he didn’t harm anyone,” Bhowal told Metro on Friday.
After exiting the flat, Dharmendra climbed to the building’s terrace and lay low on the cornice, hoping to avoid detection, a resident said.
“We went to the terrace to look for the man but initially could not locate him. After some time, we heard that he had scaled down the building’s pipeline and was caught outside our complex,” said the resident.
He had run out of the complex and was captured near a building that houses IPS officers’ quarters.
Meanwhile, the other two men — Ganpat Gurjar and Mahesh Gurjar — remained at the scene near Swabhumi and were detained by the police.
All three were taken to Phoolbagan police station, where their identities were confirmed. They were wanted in connection with the high-profile murder of businessman Rulania, who was shot dead inside a gym in Kuchaman, Rajasthan, on October 7.
Ganpat is believed to be the main shooter. “Ganpat was the one who pulled the trigger. One of the others was stationed near the staircase inside the gym, one drove the getaway vehicle, and the fourth remained in the car during the attack,” said Richa Tomar, superintendent of police, Didwana-Kuchaman.
The fourth accused, Zuber Ahmed, is still absconding. “According to the last input we received, Zuber was also with the remaining three. There is a possibility that he is still in Calcutta or Bengal,” a Rajasthan Police officer said.
A team from Rajasthan, led by the SHO of Kuchaman police station, arrived in Calcutta on Friday and took custody of the three accused. They were produced before the Sealdah court, which granted a five-day transit remand for their transfer to Rajasthan.
The police said that all three arrested men had a ₹1 lakh reward declared on them.
They had allegedly fled Rajasthan after the murder and had been travelling through several states, including Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, and Jharkhand, before finally entering Bengal.
Investigators suspect the gang had run out of money, which may explain their presence around local food stalls and the careless movements that drew attention. The police said it’s still unclear how long they were in Calcutta or where they were staying.
On Friday afternoon, two abandoned bags were discovered near the Hyatt hotel. The police believe they belong to the arrested suspects. The bags have been seized by Bidhannagar police and are being examined for potential clues.