A five-and-a-half-hour drama, with a car chase, that started at Ashoknagar, in Habra, climaxed with the arrest of Rahul Singh, 20, son of a Bihar policeman, and two accomplices. They were intercepted by the police on Bombay Road in Midnapore on Tuesday.

The tale that unfolded on Tuesday evening has an epilogue, as Nanda Dulal Paul, officer-in-charge (OC) of Hastings police station revealed.

“Rahul’s father Mohan Singh is a constable of Kotwali police station, in Bihar’s Balia. Rahul is notorious in West Bengal’s Barasat area and the entire route between Bihar and Bengal as a deft and slippery car thief. There is a case pending against him with Barasat police over an Indica that he stole there and sold in Assam,” OC Paul said.

On Tuesday, around 6.20 pm, a police patrol in the Victoria Memorial area came across a semi-conscious man sprawled on the road. While the man was being rushed to hospital, he mumbled the registration number of his Tata Sumo and sketchy details about how three youths had thrown him out of his vehicle and sped off in it.

The incident triggered off a flurry of activity. Officers of Hastings police station informed the Lalbazar control room, and a city-wide alert was sounded. Lalbazar also relayed the alert to the adjacent districts.

Around 7 pm, a mobile patrol from Kolaghat thana, under Midnapore police, spotted the Sumo moving along Bombay Road and followed it. The car was intercepted at 7.30 pm, and all three youths were arrested. They were later brought to Hastings police station, where a case had been registered.

The interrogation of the trio revealed an almost incredible tale of dexterous criminal planning and execution.

Rahul and his accomplices, Raju Das, 21, and Ajay Das, 23, both residents of Dum Dum, had boarded the Sumo around 3 pm. The driver of the private car had let them take a ride with the intention of making a quick buck.

The Sumo entered Calcutta via Barasat, moving along Jessore Road, VIP Road, the EM Bypass, Bridge no. 4, and down the AJC Bose Road flyover. There was a lot of conversation during the ride, and a brief stopover on the Bypass. There, the youths gave the driver a soft drink, laced with a sedative.

The vehicle neared SSKM Hospital around 5.45 pm and the sedative started working on the driver. The three youths pounced on him, raining blows. The steering wheel was wrenched out of his grasp, and he was thrown out of the moving vehicle.

“Lalbazar’s message had set in place a dragnet along Bombay Road, Durgapur Expressway, National Highway 34 and Diamond Harbour Road. We hadn’t realised that we were chasing professionals. All three come from respectable families,” OC Paul said. “In the past eight months, the trio had stolen two Sumos from Dankuni and Nicco Park, and an Indica from Madhyamgram, and sold them in Bihar.”