Siliguri, Nov. 26: Thanks to the efforts of the Jorasanko police in Calcutta, law enforcers finally managed to nab 28-year-old Sheikh Mehedi Hassan, one of the most wanted cold-blooded killers in the state who had been on the run.
Hassan, who tops the list of north Bengal police’s rouges gallery scripted his rise to infamy in the Siliguri underworld as a teenager. He went on to become a terror in the trading hub during the mid-nineties.
Known as Metia in the Siliguri underworld, Hassan joined the big league in 1997 when he allegedly shot dead a former crime-lord-turned-businessman Rana Ghosh and his son Rupam outside Ghosh’s travel agency on the busy Sevoke Road- Hill Cart Road crossing.
Describing Hassan’s arrest as a big catch, officiating additional superintendent of police in Siliguri Saroj Kumar Gazmer said: “Hassan’s arrest was a major breakthrough for us. Besides being one of the prime accused in the attack on the additional superintendent of police’s office-cum-residence, he is wanted in connection with at least four murder cases. He also stands accused of a slew of criminal activities ranging from land grabbing to extortion. Hassan has been a fugitive from law for the past several years.”
“Hassan was on one of the motorcycles during the attack on the additional superintendent’s of police’s quarters. A team of Siliguri police has left for Calcutta with a transit warrant and we expect them to be back in Siliguri with Hassan in a day or two,” said Gazmer.
“Metai had a reputation as supari killer, so we do not rule out the possibility of his being on the payroll of Atri Sharma. Investigations have revealed that Metia was a pointsman for the crime cartel in securing the multi-core lucrative defence tenders and part of the cartel’s thriving extortion and land-grabbing racket. ,” he added
A police official said:“ Once we interrogate Hassan, we expect to get more information on the cartel’s modus operandi. We are hopeful he would lead us to Sandip Sur, the other prime accused in the attack.”
Hassan’s links with the underworld in eastern Bihar and parts of Calcutta had helped him elude the police dragnet.
