Quarters on the Raiganj police station premises; (bottom) the inspector in charge, Sujit Ghosh, at the site of the burglary. Pictures by Nantu Dey

Raiganj, May 20: Thieves broke into four rickety quarters on the police station premises here last night and decamped with a loaded service revolver, gold ornaments and about Rs 10,000.

The North Dinajpur district superintendent of police has issued a show-cause notice to sub-inspector Tamal Kanti Guha who had left the revolver behind in his room despite being on duty. No one has been arrested in connection with the burglary that took place when the quarters were empty.

All the four quarters are one-roomed with tin roofs and wooden doors. The robbers broke open the doors to enter the rooms. They forced open trunks and almirahs, in which the revolver, money and the ornaments were kept. Clothes and other things were left strewn around in every room.

While three of the quarters belonged to sub-inspector Guha, assistant sub-inspector Humayun Karir and constable Pampa Roy, the occupant of the fourth quarters was a PWD employee.

The inspector in charge of Raiganj police station, Sujit Ghosh, said the PWD employee was not present in his room last night. The sub-inspector and the lady constable, Pampa Roy, were on duty at the police station from 10pm, while the assistant sub-inspector was on night patrol.

“All the three had reported for duty on time. When the assistant sub-inspector returned to his quarters around 5am, he discovered the break-in. He was the first to inform us about the incident and we have started a high-level inquiry,” said Ghosh.

Sub-inspector Tamal Kanti Guha in his quarters. Picture by Nantu Dey

The superintendent of police of North Dinajpur, Milon Kanti Das, said about 30 grams of gold had been stolen from the lady constable’s room. “The thieves have also taken Rs 10,000 in cash from the rooms, but what is most alarming was the theft of the service revolver belonging to the sub-inspector. It is a .38 revolver and was loaded fully with six rounds,” said Das.

The police chief said the investigation was being conducted keeping in mind two aspects.

“No petty thief will break into a police quarters. Also, they were in the know that the three police personnel would be on duty and absent from their quarters. Whoever broke in had a thorough knowledge of the circumstances and had a clear idea of escape routes. We are trying to find out where they got all these information,” said Das.

The second aspect of the probe centred on the missing revolver. “We have to find out why the sub-inspector had left behind his service revolver in his quarters despite being on duty. The norm is that whenever a weapon is issued to a policeman, he has to carry it all the time. I have already issued a show-cause notice to the particular officer and he has been asked to reply by 7pm today. We will take appropriate action against him once we get his reply,” said Das.

Guha, the officer whose revolver was stolen, said while on duty at the police station, he had to attend to a lot of telephone calls and that was why he had kept the revolver under lock and key in a trunk in his quarters. “I had kept the revolver in my quarters many times like I did last night. Unfortunately, the thieves broke in and took it away. I will reply to the show-cause,” said the sub-inspector.