Six held for firing at garment showroom over ransom demand in Jamshedpur

Six men allegedly involved in a garment showroom firing incident in Jharkhand's Jamshedpur city have been arrested with arms and ammunition.

Six men who allegedly fired at a garment showroom over a ransom demand were arrested with arms and ammunition in Jharkhand's Jamshedpur city, police said on Wednesday.

The firing incident took place on May 15 when five armed men travelling in a car allegedly opened fire at a garment showroom located in the Town Council market area of Jugsalai for not meeting their ransom demand and to establish supremacy in the area, SP (City) Lalit Meena said at a press conference.

A case was registered under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the Arms Act on May 17, he said.

On the directive of East Singhbhum Senior Superintendent of Police Piyush Pandey, a special team headed by Deputy Superintendent of Police (Law and Order) Tauquir Alam was constituted to apprehend the accused.

Based on technical inputs, eyewitness accounts and CCTV footage, investigators identified the accused as members of a gang led by notorious criminal Manish Singh, Meena said.

Acting on a tip-off received on Tuesday, the police team launched raids and arrested Abhisekh Srivastav alias Aryan (24), Rahul Singh alias Badku (25), Harpreet Singh Bhawnra alias Happy (21), Rahul Singh alias Getlu, Baneshwar Namta alias Manas (45), and Ankit Khatik alias Ankit Sonkar (24) from different locations in and around Jugsalai and Burmamines areas, he said.

The accused confessed to their involvement during interrogation, the SP said.

Based on information provided by them, police recovered four country-made pistols, five live cartridges, three empty magazines, one spent cartridge, six Android mobile phones, and the car allegedly used in the crime, he added.

Police said Rahul Singh alias Badku, Harpreet Singh, Ankit Sonkar and Baneshwar Namta have criminal antecedents. Namta, a resident of neighbouring Seraikela-Kharsawan district, has five cases pending against him in police stations in Seraikela-Kharsawan and Purulia district of West Bengal.

All the accused have been remanded to judicial custody, police said.