A man from Bihar’s Jamui district who police said had fled to Dubai on a fake passport after masterminding the murder attempt on Trinamool Congress councillor Sushanta Ghosh was arrested at the Calcutta airport on Sunday morning.
Mohammad Adil Hussain, 44, who had a look-out notice issued against him after his name came up during the investigation into the attack on Ghosh, was intercepted by immigration officials at the city airport after he arrived from Abu Dhabi.
He was handed to the police.
The anti-rowdy squad (ARS) of Kolkata Police’s detective department took custody of the accused and produced him before a court on Sunday. He has been remanded in police custody, police sources said.
“Mohammad Adil Hussain was intercepted by immigration officials at the airport this morning and handed over to the police. The Airport police station took his custody and handed him over to the ARS of Kolkata Police,” Rupesh Kumar, who is officiating as joint commissioner (crime), said.
The police said Hussain had been absconding since the failed attempt on Ghosh, Trinamool councillor of Ward 108, near his home in Kasba on November 15.
Originally from Jamui district in Bihar, Hussain lived at 36/D/7E Topsia Road in Calcutta and allegedly arranged all the men and weapons involved in the plot against the councillor, the police said.
Gulzar Khan, who had earlier been arrested in the case, had allegedly hired Hussain to execute his plan to eliminate the councillor, the police said.
Hussain allegedly arranged a shooter and brought him to Calcutta to carry out recce during Durga Puja last year.
The sleuths learnt that Hussain had fled India using a passport that was issued based on forged identity documents.
The “revelation” led the cops to unearth a racket that was active in Calcutta and on the outskirts and involved in preparing forged identity documents based on which passports were issued.
On November 15, councillor Ghosh was talking to acquaintances near his home in Kasba’s Rajdanga when two men arrived on a scooter. The man on the pillion jumped off the two-wheeler and approached Ghosh pointing a gun at him.
But the gun did not fire. The man, later identified as Yuvraj Singh, tried to flee but an acquaintance of the councillor held him back. He was later handed to the police.
The man riding the scooter, Chotu, was later arrested in Bihar’s Vaishali.