A group of around 10 men entered an industrial unit in Howrah’s Domjur, barged into a godown in the complex after breaking its padlock and beating up a guard and took away 4,000kg of zinc bars early on Saturday, police said.

The dacoits, who came in a small truck and on a motorcycle, fled with the DVR where the footage of CCTV cameras in the complex was stored, the police said.

The police solved the case with the help of footage of CCTV cameras installed
on the road leading to the industrial unit and recovered the entire booty, which was worth several lakhs of rupees.

Officers in the Howrah Police Commissionerate said the dacoity at Jalan Complex on Mumbai road, around 21km from the heart of Calcutta, took place around 1.30am on Saturday.

“A group of around 10 men had entered Jalan Complex and then targeted the warehouse of a company. They beat up the guard and tied him up,” said an officer of the commissionerate.

The police said the dacoity was reported to them on Saturday afternoon,
following which they started an investigation and cracked the case in less than a day.

An investigator said although the dacoits took away the DVR of the CCTV cameras inside the industrial complex, the police used footage of the cameras on the road outside to crack the case.

“We ascertained from the footage the registration number of the vehicle in which the stolen zinc bars were transported,” an officer said.

The owner of the vehicle was identified as Abinash Singh, who is originally from North Dinajpur but now stays at Malipanchghora in Howrah.

Officers said Singh told the investigating team that he had rented out his truck to a man named Subrata Sen, alias Chhotka, a resident of Howrah’s Golabari, for a day on Friday. He said he was in the dark that his truck had been used in a dacoity.

“However, as the investigation progressed, we came to know that Singh was at the wheel of the truck during the dacoity,” an officer said.

The police later tracked down Sen and one of his alleged associates, Bishal Sahu.

“Sen and Sahu were also arrested. They admitted that they had committed the dacoity with six others,” an officer said.

Bishal Jaiswal, who allegedly received the zinc bars, was the next to be arrested.

“The bars were recovered from a godown in Howrah,” the officer said.

The accused who have been arrested have been charged with dacoity.

“We suspect six persons took the lead in planning and executing the dacoity. Of them, four have been arrested. A search is on for the others,” said another officer of the commissionerate.