A labourer was injured after a bullet went off accidentally from an armed security guard’s gun in a scuffle with the labourer and his friends, who were drinking near a construction site in New Town on Wednesday night.
Trouble started when at least three labourers were spotted drinking in the open by Biswajit Chakraborty, an unarmed security guard of the construction site behind Sukhobrishti Housing Complex in Action Area III. He asked the labourers not to consume alcohol in the open.
“The men didn’t pay heed to Chakraborty’s warnings. The security guard then tried to film them on his cellphone. That is when the labourers started abusing him and two of them attacked him with an iron rod lying on the premises,” said an officer of Bidhannagar commissionerate.
As Chakraborty cried for help, another security guard, who was armed with a single-barrel shotgun, came to his rescue. The labourers started hitting him as well.
The armed security guard threatened to shoot them but one of the labourers, Swapan Malakar, tried to snatch the gun when it got fired, leaving Malakar stunned. He fell on the ground and was injured in his leg.
Police have arrested the two labourers, who hail from Nadia. The third one escaped.
Hearing the gunshot, other labourers, security guards and some residents of Sukhobrishti Complex came out.
Officers of Techno City police station arrived at the spot and sent Malakar to a hospital. They arrested the other labourer, Sisir Malakar. “We have seized the gun. We are awaiting a doctor’s confirmation if the injury on the labourer’s leg is from the bullet or any sharp object,” said a police officer.
Sourav Mukherjee, a resident of Sukhobrishti Housing Complex, said the incident was shocking. “This area has a lot of outsiders who drink in the open. We have asked the cops several times to take necessary steps but there has been little result.”