Calcutta, March 18: They were meant to hunt down a gang of robbers, but ended up handcuffing a group of alleged murderers.

Acting on a tip-off, a special team of Calcutta police, which was formed recently to track a gang involved in a dacoity in Posta, swooped on Bablu Pal and Swapan Kahar from Paikpara, and a little later Raju Mishra, last night.

When the officers raided a hideout in Paikpara yesterday, they found Bablu and Swapan sleeping there.

Jolted awake, Bablu tried to flee but he was overpowered. The two were brought to Posta police station, where half a dozen officers started grilling them. The first two hours drew a blank .

They kept insisting that they had no link with the dacoity case. But after a few hours, they broke down and made a confession that startled the investigators ? they were involved in the murder of Jayanta Ghosh.

“From their facial expressions, we were sure there was something. But we did not have the slightest hint that we would be able to solve the mystery shrouding the death of the doctor. It was a bolt from the blue,” deputy commissioner of police (central division) Ajoy Kumar said.

After the duo’s confession, the police got to know that there were three others involved in the murder case and a massive hunt was launched to arrest them. Raju was the next to be caught.

“Raju almost slipped out of our hands but two policemen gave him a chase and managed to pin him down,” an official said.

“We got to know the whereabouts of the two others still at large from Bablu and raided their hideouts. The trio was brought to the police station this morning and were shocked to see Bablu and Swapan in the lock-up. By that time, they realised that they had been exposed,” an officer of Posta police station said.