Calcutta, July 16: Armed men yanked a poultry merchant off a bus, hustled him into a taxi and threw him out a kilometre down the road after local youths gave a chase in rush-hour Rajarhat this evening.

Witnesses to the 8pm incident, near Saratpally, spoke of hearing “gunshots” after one of the miscreants got off the taxi, which overtook the bus and stopped in front of it, and stood near the bus door brandishing a revolver.

The 45-year-old, identified as Ainul Haq, was dragged out of the bus on route 91C by four others.

However, with local youths following the taxi on bi- kes, the miscreants pushed Haq out at Motir Pole, on the airport’s eastern side, and fled, leaving the taxi behind. Police took the bleeding merchant to RG Kar Hospital.

“We rescued Haq from a roadside bush with some injuries on his face,” a police officer said.

The police found no proof of firing. “Unless we get empty cartridges or confirm the events with the bus passengers or its staff, we can’t say shots were fired,” said an airport police station officer.

Additional superintendent P.K. Tripathi said: “We are questioning the taxi driver, Nazir Hussein.”

The chairman of Rajarhat-Goplapur municipality, Tapas Chatterjee, said local youths had told him about the “firing”.

“The bus was going towards Kaikhali. We saw the taxi stop in front of it,” said Gau-tam Das, who teaches at a coaching centre nearby. Another resident said Haq was also a building material supplier.