Four aides of infamous gangster Raju Naskar arrested in midnight raid in Shyampukur

The Anti-Rowdy Squad of the Kolkata Police dealt a major blow to the organized crime network in the Beleghata area by arresting four close associates of notorious local gangster-turned-promoter Raju Naskar on Saturday night. Acting on a precise tip-off regarding a potential illicit weapons trade, a specialized police team intercepted the suspects near the Shyampukur locality. The four arrested individuals have been identified as Shyamal Basu, Raju Saha, Bibhas Das, and Rajesh Mallick—all prominent residents of Beleghata known to handle the ground operations of Naskar’s extortion and construction syndicates.

A formal criminal case has been registered against the group at the Shyampukur Police Station under the stringent provisions of the Arms Act. According to senior officers, the suspects have been booked under sections 25(1)(A) and 29 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which deal extensively with the illegal possession, transport, and attempted commercial sale of prohibited firearms. The police managed to recover an array of unlicensed weapons and live ammunition during the high-stakes midnight raid, frustrating an active plan by the gang to deploy these arms for localized extortion.

The mastermind of this criminal network, Raju Naskar, carries a long history of violence in Kolkata's eastern suburbs and is recognized locally as an influential political muscleman with deep ties to senior Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders. Naskar operates primarily under the guise of a construction promoter, using armed intimidation to control local land deals. He was previously arrested by a joint team of the Lalbazar Anti-Gang Squad and Beleghata police in February last year after he allegedly abducted a resident from his home and brutally assaulted him over a monetary dispute. Following his arrest, municipal authorities even deployed bulldozers to demolish parts of an illegal multi-story housing complex that Naskar was erecting.