A 7mm pistol, two bullets and 16 crude bombs were found inside a polythene bag kept on the back seat of an autorickshaw in a residential neighbourhood in Haridevpur on the southern fringes of the city on Saturday morning.
Police have seized the arms and ammunition. But the cache of arms and ammo in an otherwise peaceful neighbourhood has again drawn focus to their abundant availability in the city.
A police officer said the autorickshaw owner had taken a loan from a finance company to purchase the vehicle. But as he had allegedly failed to repay the loan, the finance company had seized the vehicle and parked it in an open garage at Haridevpur.
The auto of Bijoygarh-Narendrapur route has been stationed in the open garage for more than a year.
On Saturday morning, a resident of the neighbourhood spotted the polythene bag inside the autorickshaw and alerted the police.
“We received information about an unclaimed polythene bag inside an auto and sent our patrol vehicle to the spot. On opening the bag, a gun, ammunition and crude bombs were found. The bomb disposal squad was alerted,” said a senior officer of Haridevpur police station.
A team of the bomb disposal squad went to the spot and removed the polythene bag. The bombs were disposed while the gun and the ammunition were seized by officers of Haridevpur police.
The police said they could not locate any eye witness who saw anyone keeping the plastic bag in the autorickshaw.
“We have started to examine footage from CCTV cameras in the neighbourhood. One of the cameras show two men coming on a motorcycle and keeping something inside the autorickshaw. But the footage is very hazy. We are trying to corroborate with other CCTV cameras,” said the officer.
“It appears that the bag was kept inside the autorickshaw on April 19. But we have yet to confirm this,” he added.
Police said they have found that the open garage originally belonged to a club in the locality. The club had apparently leased it out to a finance company that is using it for keeping the vehicles that the company seizes if there is an EMI default.
A resident of the neighbourhood said they did not expect their children to see guns and bombs in autorickshaws. “We are scared. Our children are scared because they regularly travel in auto-rickshaws. This neighbourhood was not like this before,” he said.