This is as daring as it gets.
A 30-year-old man, wanted in multiple dacoity cases, cycled 600 km during the coronavirus-induced nationwide lockdown and committed another dacoity in West Bengal. This time, however, his luck ran out and as he was arrested with three associates.
“Pritam Ghosh, the mastermind, is accused in several other dacoity cases in West Bengal and Odisha. He seems to have fled from a jail in Odisha and was hiding in Bihar. We are trying to verify. Further investigation is on,” Hindustan Times quoted Chandannagar Police Commissioner Humayun Kabir as saying.
On reaching Uttarpara on Wednesday, he formed a gang comprising of old friends with criminal past, police said. They observed the area closely before looting Rs 17 lakh from the Union Bank on Friday afternoon.
“They were carrying firearms and looted around Rs 17 lakh. Around 10 lakh have been recovered. We have seized one firearm. We are trying to seize the bicycle which he used to come to Uttarpara from Bihar,” Uttarpara police station inspector-in-charge S Pattanaik.
It was revealed that Ghosh cycled from Basara village in Rajapakar area of Bihar to reach Uttarpara in West Bengal’s Hooghly district, where his in-laws reside.
“He chose to pedal because he could sneak into West Bengal easily. If he had come by bus in the guise of a labourer he would have been checked at the border. He thought he might get caught because he was accused in several cases. He got the idea to pedal from migrant labourers who travelled hundreds of kilometres on foot,” said a senior officer.
