A team of Kolkata Police officers armed with guns and wearing bulletproof jackets had simultaneously pressed the calling bells of two rooms on two separate floors at the Green Edge Residency Guest House at Anandapur on Saturday evening, expecting heavy gunfire. But when the doors opened, the men inside emerged unarmed. One was ailing and bedridden.

A team of the special task force of the Kolkata Police carried out an operation that did not need any exchange of fire and led to the arrest of four persons wanted for the shooting at Paras Hospital in Patna last Thursday, where an ailing gangster was murdered.

While one of the men arrested in Anandapur was the prime accused, the bedridden man at the guest house turned out to be the co-conspirator.

“We had input that the gang had rented two rooms on two separate floors. We verified our information from the reception and tapped both the rooms at the same time so that no one could be alerted,” said an officer of Kolkata Police.

Tauseef — the prime accused in the Chandan Mishra shooting case at Paras Hospital in Patna, was inside one of the rooms. His cousin Yousuf Khan alias Nishu, along with two associates, were in the second room, the police said.

One of the identity cards submitted by the men at the guesthouse was genuine, while the other one was forged, the police said.

The owner of the guest house did not inform the police about the guests, an alleged negligence that could lead to police action against the owner, the police said.

“The woman who is from Dum Dum, was coming down the stairs when STF officers stormed in. She was detained and later released,” said an officer.

“She was not arrested, and no direct connection had emerged between her and the Patna murder case,”the officer added.

The other four were identified as — Tauseef, his cousin Nishu (who had to be removed in a stretcher), Nishu’s caretaker Bhim Kumar and male nurse Harsh Kumar.

Four years ago, in an almost similar operation, a team of the Bengal Special Task Force had knocked on the door of an apartment at Shukhobrishti housing complex in New Town and were greeted with gunfire when the door opened. An inspector of the STF took a bullet on his shoulder. The men inside were dreaded criminals Jaipal Bhullar and Jaspreet Singh alias Jassi Kharar, both of whom had bounties on their heads in Punjab.

On Saturday, the Kolkata Police team “took all precautions,” an officer said.

“Our men were armed and had their protective gear on. We had no specific input about them (the men inside). But we knew that they were highly dangerous and could be armed,” said a senior officer at the Kolkata Police headquarters in Lalbazar.

“Our biggest concern was that our men are going in and they should come out safe,” the officer added.

The operation rolled out “smoothly” as there was no resistance from the people inside.

Sources said Tauseef and the three men who had fled from Patna after the daring murder at Paras Hospital had deposited their arms in Patna before heading for Calcutta.

“They were also carrying forged medical documents which they had planned to show as an alibi for Nishu’s treatment if they stopped anywhere on the highway. Hence, they were not carrying any arms,” said an officer.

The gang checked into the Anandapur guesthouse on Friday afternoon after they failed to establish contact with Tauseef’s friend Ehsaan at Shukhobrishti Housing Complex or get an accommodation near Park Street.

Acting on a tip-off, the Kolkata Police trailed them and reached there on Saturday evening.

The busy neighbourhood was secured, and then commuters were asked to stay away from the lane where the guesthouse is located.

“We could see a huge contingent of police force. Some of them were in plain clothes. They were not allowing passersby to enter the lane where the guesthouse is located, making it apparent that something big was happening. Shortly afterwards, an ambulance came and a man on a stretcher was put on it,” said a neighbour who did not wish to be named.

According to the police, apart from sealing off the lane where the guesthouse is located, life was not disturbed in any other way.

Anandapur, along EM Bypass, is dotted with guesthouses where patients undergoing treatment at the nearby hospitals often put up.