Last month’s November 16 attempt on the life of Trinamool Congress (TMC) councilor Sushant Ghosh, which named Bihar gangster and arms dealer Pappu Chaudhary, confirmed one thing to law enforcement officials: the growing nexus between the two states’ organized crime syndicates.
According to police sources, there has been a “surge” in criminal activities in West Bengal in recent months, many of them linked to gangs from across the border in Bihar. At least 50 such gangs are estimated to be active in the areas of Bihar bordering Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Nepal, a senior Bihar police official said.
The increase in arms and ammunition being smuggled into the state from Bihar has also added to these concerns. According to data obtained by The Indian Express, 58 people were arrested and 115 firearms, including finished and unfinished guns, were arrested in 14 raids conducted jointly by the Special Task Force of the Kolkata Police and the Bihar Special Task Force on arms factories in Bihar. Last three years.
Most of these raids were conducted in Munger, where police sources claim that several units are stockpiling firearms.
According to sources, gangsters from Bihar like Pappu Chaudhary and Subodh Singh are allegedly responsible for “orchestrating” a series of high-profile crimes in West Bengal. Chaudhary gained notoriety between 2010 and 2018, and his gang is said to be active in the border region – including districts such as Kishanganj, Katihar, Purnia and Araria – but also involved in extortion cases and bank robberies in Samastipur and Vaishali. As far as neighboring Jharkhand.
“In such cases, the police of both the states should work together,” said a former superintendent of police stationed in Katihar.
But Chaudhary is not the only Bihar-based gangster whose name has cropped up in the West Bengal Police investigation. An investigation into the murder of BJP leader Manish Shukla in 2019 reportedly led to Subodh Singh, who has been charged with crimes including the 2023 murder of Durgapur businessman and alleged coal mafia Raju Jha in West Bengal, and looting of Rs 4 crore. At a jewelery shop on June 12 in Raniganj, West Bengal. Singh’s name also figured in the attempted murder of businessman Ajay Mandal in Belgharia this June.
According to police sources, Singh, a Class 8 dropout, employs nearly 100 men, many of whom are sharpshooters. Currently lodged in Bengal’s Alipore Central Jail, he is believed to have run his operation in Patna’s Beur Jail, where he was lodged till July this year.
“Since last year, Subodh’s name has repeatedly cropped up for crimes from Asansol, Barrackpore, Ranaghat and Raniganj to Domjur. The Subodh Singh gang has been active in Bihar and West Bengal for robbing banks and business establishments, extortion and contract killings for years,” a senior IPS officer of Bihar cadre told The Indian Express.
Apart from this, the arrest of four suspects involved in robberies at two prominent jewelery shops in Nadia and Purulia in August led the police to trace their links to gangs based in Bihar. On October 7, an alleged Bihar-based gangster Mohammad Adil alias Babar, who had 12 cases against him including six in Bengal – and a reward of Rs 1 lakh, was killed in an encounter with Bihar’s Special Task Force. Police in Purnia District. The police recovered one country carbine and six pistols from the encounter site.
He said, ‘Most of these gangs are involved in bank robbery, extortion, contract killing and leaking examination papers.
Seized during a joint operation by Kolkata and Bihar STFs at an arms assembly unit in Bhagalpur, Bihar. (Express Photo)
Meanwhile, the smuggling of weapons between the two states has also increased. Consider this:
* On November 13, the Kolkata and Bihar Special Task Force conducted a joint raid on an alleged weapons assembly unit run inside a house in Munger, Bihar and arrested two suspects, Mohammad Monazir Hussain and Mohammad Naseem. Inside, authorities reportedly found firearms, raw materials and equipment for making firearms – such as lathes and milling machines. According to officials, the unit was run in the name of food plate manufacturing unit.
* On November 9, the Kolkata STF, acting on a special tip-off, arrested one Mohammad Ismail Khan of Ghangri in Chatra district of Jharkhand in raids at his residence and another house in Kolkata’s Rajabazar. Authorities reportedly recovered three single-shot guns, two 7 mm semi-automatic pistols, 50 rounds of 8 mm live cartridges, and 40 rounds of 7.65 mm live cartridges.
* On September 25, a joint raid on an “active mini-gun factory” in Chandpur village of Bhagalpur district in Bihar led to the detention of five people, including the owner of the land, Shivanandan Mandal. Police have recovered 15 pistol parts like slider, barrel and gun making equipment.
On his part, a senior police official admits that the Bihar connection in these cases underscores the “insecure nature of the border and the ease with which criminals operate within the jurisdiction”, calling for “enhanced inter-state cooperation” to tackle the problem.
But the increasing frequency of such connections has given rise to calls for tighter border controls, with leaders of the ruling Trinamool Congress blaming lax policing in border areas.
“People pay the police. They work well during Durga Puja but the question is how pistols enter Bengal from Bihar. What do these police (people) do? Can’t they stop and check such people,” senior TMC leader Saugata Roy asked at a public rally after Sushant Ghosh’s killing sparked a political uproar.