Calcutta, Nov. 6: A day before footballers Sasthi Duley and Dipankar Roy are to be produced in court, a police source indicated their bail plea might not be opposed.

The East Bengal players were arrested last Tuesday on charges of sheltering notorious criminal Dilip Banerjee alias hatkata Dilip.

East Bengal players and officials are reported to have been requesting the police not to plead for their custody ? in jail or police lock-up ? when the two are produced at the Barrackpore sub-divisional judicial magistrate?s court tomorrow.

Soccer star Bhaichung Bhutia visited the duo at Bidhannagar (North) police station lock-up today with coach Subhas Bhowmick in tow.

?The two of them are repenting for what they have done. Considering this, the chief minister should look at it from a human angle and examine the issue sympathetically. After all, they are good players,? he said before leaving the police station.

Club general secretary Kalyan Majumdar said: ?We have appealed to the chief minister to ensure that the two get to play football as soon as possible. The law, of course, will take its course. But we hope Sasthi and Dipankar will return to the maidan as soon as possible.?

Dilip, who is also lodged at the police station, was interrogated and raids were conducted at Rajarhat, Lake Town and neighbouring areas through the night on the basis of his information.

No arms were recovered and there were no further arrests, the source said.

?Raids will continue and we are in the final stages of interrogation,? a senior district police official said.

Dilip was caught after a four-month chase from Duley?s ancestral house in Hooghly around 2.30 am on October 29 during a raid conducted by a team of North 24-Parganas police.

The gangster was on the run since he and his men went on a shooting spree on June 27, killing two at a soiree at Nayapatti in Salt Lake. A third person died of a heart attack in hospital later.