A man working as a pharmacist at a hospital in Sonarpur on the southern fringes of the city has been arrested for his alleged connection with the gang that opened fire in the Ballygunge office of a coal merchant and tried to extort money.
Police said Vikash Kumar Pandey, 26, who is originally from Bardhaman, had joined the Sonarpur hospital as pharmacist on January 10, two days after he allegedly helped the men who opened fire at the Ballygunge office.
Pandey had allegedly helped Avinas Kumar Raut, 23, and Chandan Yadav, 23, both from Deoghar in Jharkhand, who were arrested early on Sunday from their homes and were brought to Kolkata later in the day.
Based on their statements, the police zeroed in on Pandey and brought him to Lalbazar on Sunday afternoon. He was arrested after prolonged interrogation.
“He has admitted to his crime, about how he provided logistic support to the men from Deoghar to threaten and extort money from city businessmen,” said an officer.
Pandey, who was earlier engaged in a pharmacy in Deoghar, had quit the job on December 30.
Sources said cops were probing if the same gang was behind an alleged threat call to another coal businessman in the Burrabazar area recently.
The police said Raut and Yadav both could be linked with gangster and extortionist Aman Sahoo, who is lodged inside Pakur jail in Jharkhand. But cops are yet to verify if they were working for some other gang that was targeting Kolkata-based coal businessmen.
“It appears they have a connection with Aman Sahoo. But we are verifying if they were following his instructions or have been hired by someone else for extorting money from the coal trading company,” said an investigator.