Police commissioner Manoj Verma on Monday expressed concern over the easy availability of illegal arms in the city.
He was referring to the firing inside a gym in the Charu Market area on Sunday and the recovery of a gun near a body in West Port on Monday morning.
“The presence of illegal firearms has raised significant concerns. Just yesterday, there was a shooting incident, and today a body was discovered with what appears to be an illegal weapon nearby. Various departments within the Kolkata Police, including the STF and the detective unit, have made considerable efforts to combat illegal arms trafficking. However, it is essential that we now refocus our efforts on increasing the seizure of such weapons,” Verma stated during an event organised by the city police.
Earlier this month, Gulshan Colony in Topsia witnessed violence in which several men were found to be moving around fearlessly with guns.
Mohammad Firoz Khan, alias Mini Firoz, the alleged mastermind behind the violence at the colony, was arrested on Sunday night and produced before a court on Monday. He has been remanded in police custody.
Allegations have emerged that Firoz’s men fired several rounds in the air to terrorise people in the neighbourhood.
Multiple CCTV footage had captured the violence in a residential neighbourhood, shots being fired, bikes smashed, and people being chased.
The police had been looking for Firoz since the violence.
Officers said he had been on the run across Delhi, Mumbai, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar before he was finally caught at a railway station in Delhi on Sunday evening.
Firoz had been using Internet calling services like VoIP that do not require a SIM card to make calls.
“He was actively engaged with social media, posting daily updates. Tracking him proved challenging since he wasn’t using a SIM card. However, we located him through human intelligence,” said a senior officer.
Many said the violence was the outcome of a long battle for control of power in the area.
Last year, Trinamool Congress councillor Susanta Ghosh had survived a murder attempt by a youth near his house. The plan failed after the youth's gun malfunctioned.
During the investigation, the police found that the mastermind of the attack was hiding in Gulshan Colony.