A 20-year-old man suffered a bullet injury on his left palm while handling a 9mm pistol at a drinking session with two of his friends in Kasba on Wednesday night.
The gun went off along the canal at Pratik Pally, close to the house of Sushanta Ghosh, the Trinamool councillor who escaped a bid on his life a year ago. Ghosh escaped because the shooter’s gun had malfunctioned.
Late on Wednesday, Abhijit Naiya was admitted to Ruby General Hospital with a bullet injury.
Police have arrested one of his friends.
The police said all three made a living brokering property deals, a popular vocation in this part of Calcutta, where several new projects are coming up.
A spent cartridge has been recovered from the spot along with blood-stained styrofoam plates, cigarette buds, empty biryani boxes and packets of potato wafers.
“The firearm used is a 9mm pistol, and it has been recovered. Naiya said two friends were with him. One of them, Abhijit Sardar aka Babi, 33, was initially detained for questioning and later arrested. A search is being carried out for the other person,” a senior officer said.
The bullet went off around 11pm on Wednesday when Naiya and his friends were fiddling with the firearm. The three had gathered next to bushy outgrowths on the bank of the canal, which flows through a residential pocket of Kasba, close to Acropolis Mall, and about 3km from Gariahat.
“Naiya said the trio had owned the 9mm pistol for some time. On Wednesday night, a bullet was fired while they were fiddling with it, and it hit his left palm. He returned home with a bullet injury before being admitted to the hospital,” the police officer said.
Doctors at the hospital said Naiya’s condition was stable and that he had suffered excessive bleeding. He will be kept under observation for a few days.
The police came to know about the gunshot from the hospital after Naiya was admitted. A resident of Bosepukur in Kasba, he initially tried to mislead the police with a fabricated story.
“Naiya said two unknown men, with their faces covered by helmets, arrived at the canal bank and threatened him with a gun. He said the men accused him of picking fights with their group,” a senior officer of the Kasba police station said.
“Naiya said the bullet hit his palm after he tried to snatch the gun,” said the officer.
Officers said they visited the spot and found discrepancies in Naiya’s statements. During interrogation, he narrated the real turn of events.
“It is not yet clear how they got hold of a 9mm pistol, why the firearm was with them for some time and who funded the purchase,” a senior police officer said.
The incident is an umpteenth reminder of how easily guns are available in the city. The fact that the police had not heard the gunshot before the hospital alerted them is also worrisome.
Many residents refused to comment out of fear.
A section of police officers said the guns were an even greater concern because the Assembly elections are a few months away.
“The intelligence network of officers at the police stations covering this part of the city should be expanded to understand the source of illegal firearms reaching parts of Kasba and its adjoining areas,” a senior officer said.
Such a directive has to ring out to police stations across Calcutta: please do your job.