A man carrying a “gun” had sneaked close to chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s Kalighat residence on Thursday. Later, it was found to be an air gun.

Police said the 51-year-old man, who had a bag in one hand and a cigarette in another, is a teacher of a reputed English medium school in the city. He had gone to Kalighat to meet the chief minister, although without an appointment.

He was examined at Kalighat police station.

“Debanjan Chatterjee of Block-CA 79 Salt Lake was intercepted in Kalighat. On searching him one air gun was found in his bag. Immediately, he was taken to Kalighat police station. During the interrogation he disclosed that he was attached with Serampore Rifle Club and that he was a schoolteacher,” said joint commissioner (crime), Kolkata Police, Rupesh Kumar.

Later, the cops verified the statements and found them to be true.

Chatterjee was released from the police station on Thursday evening.

Sources said Chatterjee had come in a car and alighted a few hundred metres away from the chief minster’s residence on Harish Chatterjee Street.

He was walking straight to the high security zone when the cops spotted him and intercepted him on Thursday morning.

Chatterjee reportedly told the police that his father — a state government employee — had recently passed away. He said he wanted to meet the chief minister to request the early release of his father’s posthumous pension benefits.

In 2023, another man carrying arms and multiple identity cards was arrested while trying to enter Harish Chatterjee Street with the alleged intention to meet the chief minister.