A day after a fruit seller was murdered in a busy marketplace of the city’s Burrabazar area, police have still not been able to arrest the assailant. “The accused has not been identified yet,” Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Pallab Kanti Ghosh told journalists here on Friday. He also said that the CCTV footage at a nearby traffic signal is being examined.
The incident occurred late on Thursday evening . The victim, Khurshid Alam (30), was at his shop when the attacker called him outside and opened fire at him. Mr. Alam later succumbed to injuries at Kolkata Medical College. “The accused has reportedly left a country-made gun at the crime scene,” said Mr. Ghosh.
Some witnesses alleged that despite there being a police kiosk nearby, the accused was able to escape.
Mr. Alam, a resident of Bihar, settled in the city about five years ago after his elder brother Sohail Alam was reportedly murdered there due to family feud over land. “The victim’s father also was killed in the same area about a year ago,” the police said.
When asked whether the murder was a result of the family feud, Mr. Ghosh replied in the affirmative. Khurshid Alam’s father was murdered in 2012. Even though the four accused in the case were identified, the police were unable to arrest them, the police said, adding that all of them were charge-sheeted in absentia.
