Feb. 16: Three young men were arrested today for the vandalism at CMRI Hospital but the two main accused, both known to be close to local political leaders, are absconding since police started looking for them.

Rakesh Dhanuk, 25, Sheikh Jiauddin, 26, and Sheikh Sony, 22, were traced to their respective homes along Mayurbhanj Road, Bhu Kailash Road and Maulana Mohammed Ali Road, all of them in the vicinity of CMRI.

Investigators said the trio had admitted to being part of the vandalism, although none of them has a criminal record. They are not among those seen in television footage of the incident either.

Dhanuk makes a living doing odd jobs in the Mayurbhanj Road area, neighbours said. Jiauddin is the son of a small-time transport operator and helps in the family business with his elder brother. Sony supplies sand and other building materials to construction sites dotting Maulana Mohammed Ali Road.

The three youths have been charged with causing damage to property and rioting under sections 146 and 147 of the Indian Penal Code. The Alipore court remanded them in police custody till Saturday.

Mohammed Shakil and Wahab Ali, whom the FIR names as the main accused, have fled the locality, the police said.

"Most of those who had gone on the rampage inside the hospital are absconding. Almost all them have switched off their mobile phones. But we will get them," said a senior officer at Ekbalpore police station.

Residents of the Mayurbhanj Road and Bhu Kailash Road neighbourhood said Shakil and Wahab were close to political leaders of the area. Shakil had been seen sharing the dais with some of these leaders at a blood donation programme in the locality a week ago, they said.

Officers in Lalbazar, the city police headquarters, said the search for the main accused and their accomplices would continue. But sources said there could be pressure on the police to go slow after a group turned up at the office of an influential political leader of the port area to protest the three arrests.

A kilometre away, at CMRI, the main gate remained closed and the place was teeming with cops. The only way one could enter the hospital was through the BM Birla Heart Research Centre adjacent to it.