Bapi Sen and (below) Mili Pal being produced in court on Friday. Picture by Sayantan Ghosh

A 19-year-old girl and her live-in partner robbed Syed Mohammad Salauddin at gunpoint early last Monday and fatally shot him when he threatened to use his police contacts to have them caught, police revealed on Friday after the duo’s arrest.

Mili Pal had set up Salauddin for the robbery by cajoling him into dropping partner Bapi Sen, 22, at Salt Lake on his Honda City before escorting her to Durgacharan Mitra Street in north Calcutta, where she lives.

Salauddin, who had spent the night dancing with Mili and other women at a VIP Road bar-cum-restaurant, was apparently accustomed to showing such favours.

“He took them to Salt Lake, little knowing that the duo was planning to rob him. He gave them his wallet, a ring, gold chains and two mobile phones but vowed to have them arrested soon. They panicked and Bapi shot him thrice,” an officer said.

Investigators identified Mili and Bapi as the culprits after interrogating Neha, one of the women seen dancing with Salauddin in CCTV footage gathered from the Spice Garden bar-cum-restaurant at Kaikhali on VIP Road, and some other people who were there that night.

“Mili is there in the CCTV footage but Bapi isn’t. But he was present in the bar through the night,” Damayanti Sen, the joint commissioner of police (crime), said.

Bapi was traced to a relative’s house at Muraroi, in Birbhum district, where he had been hiding with Mili since Monday. The police came to know where they were from the tower location of calls made from Mili’s two cellphones, whose numbers Neha provided.

Police sources said as many as 10 of the 12 women who were present at Spice Garden on Sunday night were residents of a red-light area. Only Neha and another girl, Soma, live elsewhere.

Mili, alias Kajal, told the police that Salauddin befriended her at a party a few months ago. “She came to know that the transport firm owner was in the habit of carrying huge amounts of cash and told Bapi about it. Thus the plan to rob him was born,” an officer said.

The police have learnt that Salauddin would carry the maximum cash on weekends. “His trucks would cross the inter-state border mostly on weekends and he often needed to bribe personnel manning the checkposts,” the officer said.

After stepping out of the VIP Road bar with Mili and Bapi on Monday, Salauddin first went to Amherst Street to escort one of his trucks to a warehouse in Phears Lane. He then drove to Salt Lake to drop Bapi, unaware that Mili had lied to him about her friend being a resident of the township.

“Mili was in the front passenger seat, Bapi was at the back. Around 5am, just before Bapi was to get off near Tank No. 13, he held a gun to Salauddin and demanded that he hand over all his cash and valuables.

“Salauddin at first thought Bapi was joking. It was only after several threats that reality dawned on him,” the officer said.

Bapi pulled the trigger when Salauddin continued saying that he and Mili would have to pay for what they were doing to him.

“After shooting Salauddin, Bapi and Mili got off the car and started walking in the opposite direction. They took an autorickshaw to Sealdah station, from where they boarded a train to Birbhum,” joint commissioner Sen said.

A bleeding Salauddin drove around 3km to Ultadanga police station, where he barely managed to give his name, address and the location where he was shot before passing out. The transport firm owner died while being taken to RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.

“It seems he did not identify his killers because he didn’t want people to know about the company he kept. He may have hoped to survive the attack and get even with them,” an officer of the homicide department said.

The police found Salauddin’s two cellphones, his ATM card, PAN card, gold chains and Rs 4,000 on Mili and Bapi. The duo were brought back to the city on Friday and produced in court, which remanded them in police custody till July 2.