Calcutta, May 30 :    Calcutta, May 30:  The Maruti murder mystery has taken another intriguing turn, with the blood trail now leading to a policeman. A senior inspector of the detective department has been charged with protecting Rashid Alam, alias Gabbar, prime accused in the Sanjeev Jhulka murder. Investigators working on the case informed the top-brass how Gabbar had managed to elude the police dragnet with the help of the cop. 'Gabbar is a notorious criminal and we are trying our best to arrest him. If it is proved that one of my officers has been sheltering Gabbar, I will take stern action against him,' said police commissioner Sujoy Chakraborty. Gabbar, allegedly, shot Sanjeev dead on the night of May 22, in a Maruti car. The victim had been out to dinner at Tangra with friends Ranvijay Singh Rathore, Sanam and Trisha Agarwal, where Gabbar and Clive Fernandes Brookes, alias Fatman, joined them. Sanam and Fatman have been arrested. On Wednesday, the police carried out futile raids at Ripon Street, Metcalfe Street, McLeod Street, Ripon Lane, Topsia and Tiljala in search of Gabbar. At a crime conference in his office at Writers' Buildings, director-general of police D.C. Vajpai was informed how Gabbar had been hiding in a central Calcutta guest house, with the help of 'his protector' in the police force. 'Gabbar happens to be the inspector's source of underworld information. But he has given a free hand to Gabbar... We have enough evidence to suggest that they have known each other for a long time,'' a senior police officer said. Vajpai is believed to have sought an explanation from Jugal Kishore Mukherjee, officer-in-charge, Tiljala police station, for not reporting 'the Tapas Pal incident' to senior officers earlier. Film hero and newly-elected Trinamul Congress MLA Tapas Pal had barged into Tiljala thana on Monday night, with supporters, and forced the police to release Lucky, who had allegedly helped Gabbar escape. Pal, in a statement issued on Wednesday, admitted having been to Tiljala police station on Monday night, but denied having forced the officials to release anyone. 'One of my producers and my income-tax lawyer had telephoned me from Tiljala police station saying that he was in some kind of trouble and he wanted me to take him back from the police station. I went to the police station and the gentleman came back with me. I had not talked to any police personnel at all. The question of my forcing the police to release someone does not arise,' Pal wrote. Pal met mayor Subrata Mukherjee during the day and drew his attention to 'police action' against a few persons, including Lucky and his film producer father, who had worked for him in the recent Assembly elections. But the police maintained that Pal had gone to Tiljala to secure the release of Lucky. Quoting from the report sent by Tiljala police station officer-in-charge, inspector-general of police, south Bengal, Ranjit Mohanti, said: 'The police had detained Lucky, who runs a car rental business, for interrogation, and Pal was in the police station to get him released.' Most of Pal's fellow-artistes in Tollywood chose not to comment on the matter. Both Soumitra Chattopadhyay and Shatabdi Roy, however, said: 'Criminals should not be supported or sheltered.'