In a major breakthrough, the Mumbai Crime Branch has arrested three key accused wanted in connection with a firing and blast case reported in West Bengal’s Howrah district.
The accused, who had allegedly fled the state to evade arrest, were apprehended from Mumbai’s Deonar area during a covert operation conducted by the Crime Branch.
The arrested accused have been identified as Shamim Ahmed Abdul Rashid (40), Jameel Akhtar Ali (43), and Aftab Anwar Khurshid Anwar (44).
According to police sources, the case was registered on May 7, at Shibpur Police Station in Howrah district, following an incident involving seven rounds of firing and an explosion in the Shibpur area.
The FIR includes serious charges related to use of explosives, criminal conspiracy, violent assault, and other offences under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the Explosive Substances Act.
During the course of investigation, it was revealed that the three main accused had escaped from West Bengal and taken refuge in Mumbai.
Acting on intelligence inputs,
Mumbai Crime Branch’s Unit 6 launched a technical surveillance-based operation after receiving information that the accused were hiding in an SRA building in Deonar while concealing their identities.
Following a well-coordinated operation, the Crime Branch team successfully arrested all three accused.
Preliminary investigation has revealed that the arrested men are wanted in five separate serious criminal cases registered in the Shibpur area. During questioning, investigators learned that the accused had allegedly been changing locations frequently to avoid arrest and had been living in Mumbai in hiding since the incident.
Following the arrests, a team from the West Bengal Police has arrived in Mumbai to take custody of the accused and complete further legal formalities.
Police are now investigating who provided shelter to the accused in Mumbai and whether an organised interstate network assisted them in evading arrest.
Security agencies are treating the matter as a serious interstate criminal conspiracy, and further investigation is underway.
