Dozens Of Terrorists Have Been Caught From Kolkata
Dozens of terrorists have been caught from Kolkata, Bengal, which has been a safe haven for criminals for decades.
The killing of two prized gangsters Jaipal Bhullar and Jaspreet Jassi from Punjab in an encounter with the Bengal STF in Kolkata on Wednesday is not a new thing for Kolkata.
Kolkata has been a safe hiding place for criminals from the very beginning. In the last few years, around two dozen terrorists have been apprehended from Bengal alone.
These include terrorists of JMB, Al-Qaeda, Lashkar-e-Taiba.
Apart from this, many notorious criminals from other states as well as members of banned organizations have been arrested from different areas of Kolkata in the last three decades.
In fact, for decades, criminals have chosen Kolkata as a safe haven.
According to a police officer of the state, Sealdah, Howrah, and Kolkata are the three major stations in the metropolis, due to which the connectivity of other states is very easy.
Not only this, the international border is only three hours away from the city. As a result, it is very easy to cross the border. In Kolkata, it is also easy to hide from the crowd of lakhs by renting a house.
This is the reason why terrorists, notorious criminals, and members of banned organizations have been taking refuge in Kolkata and its surrounding districts for decades.
Dozens of terrorists have been caught from Kolkata: Many notorious criminals took shelter in Kolkata.
In December 1998, Manjeet Singh Mange, the right hand of notorious Uttar Pradesh criminal Bablu Srivastava, who came to Kolkata for the purpose of kidnapping a businessman, was arrested by the Punjab Police team.
One of his associates was killed in an encounter with the police. In 1998 itself, Wajid Akunji, the kingpin of a robbery gang was arrested from Laketown, Kolkata, who was hiding in a flat.
Thirty years ago in 1991, the couple, members of the Khalistani organization, were killed in an encounter with the Punjab Police in Tiljala, Kolkata. They were hiding here in a rented house.
In 1993 a member of the Babbar Khalsa group was hiding in Bhawanipur, Kolkata. He was shot dead by his opponents from Punjab.
In 2001, it was revealed that Aftab Ansari of the Huji terrorist group had chosen Kolkata as a safe city to harbor terrorists.
The perpetrators of the attack on the American Center in January 2002 were hiding in Tiljala and Tapasiya in Kolkata.
Sher Singh Rana, convicted of killing Phoolan Devi, a bandit-turned-MP, was hiding in Kolkata after escaping from Tihar Jail and in May 2006 he was also arrested from Kolkata’s Dharmatalla area.
The banned terrorist group Al Badr had attacked the office of an IT company in Bangalore in 2008.
Later, the intelligence department of Kolkata Police came to know that the passport of one of the three suspects, Mohammad Fayaz, was forged with a fake address on Bentinck Street in the metropolis.
Pakistani Ranger and ISI members have also been arrested in Kolkata.
In 2009, Kolkata Police arrested Pakistan Ranger member Shahbaz Ismail from Fairly Place in Kolkata, and in 2015, Pakistani Detective Agency (ISI) member Akhtar Khan was arrested from Jorasanko in the metropolis.
According to an intelligence official, Yasin Bhatkal, one of the founding members of the Indian Mujahideen, was once hiding under a false name in Kolkata.
A few years after he was arrested for petty theft and escaped on bail, it was revealed that the perpetrator was in fact, Yasin.
