Two criminal gangs busted, nine held

The 27-kg statue, stolen around a week ago from a temple in Shampamirja Nagar, was recovered from the farmhouse of one Alauddin, following the arrest of three persons.

Earlier the police rounded up Maheshtala residents Biswajit Bairagi, Sheikh Sirajul Islam and Khokon Kazi, following a tip-off from a person, whom the trio had approached to sell the statue.

“They were searching for a buyer but couldn’t find the right one,” SP Praveen Kumar said.

In another incident in Jadavpur, six persons were arrested from the 8B bus stand while they were planning to rob a local bank. The police recovered from them four country-made guns, 12 rounds of ammunition, jewellery, nine stolen mobile phones, CDs and an audio system.

Kumar said: “They were planning a robbery on the Corporation Bank branch near the bus stand. They have a criminal record and have been operating in the Baruipur-Sonarpur area. We grew suspicious, when we learnt that Sujoy Naskar, one of them, was daily depositing money in various banks to the tune of Rs 20,000-30,000 for some time.”