Patna/Kolkata, July 20: Five men were arrested in Kolkata’s New Town area on Saturday in connection with the killing of convicted gangster Chandan Mishra inside a private hospital in Patna, police said.
The arrests were made during a joint raid conducted by the Patna Police and the West Bengal Special Task Force (STF), a senior police officer told Press Trust of India. Four of the suspects are believed to have directly participated in the July 17 shooting, while the role of the fifth individual is under investigation.
“All the accused were hiding in a flat in a housing complex in New Town. Mobile tower location data helped us track them,” the officer said, adding that the Bihar Police would seek a transit remand from a local court to bring the suspects to Patna.
Mishra, who was serving a life sentence for murder, was gunned down in the intensive care unit of a Patna hospital while on parole for medical treatment. CCTV footage that surfaced on social media shows five armed men entering the ICU and opening fire on Mishra, officials said.
Police suspect the killing was the result of a gang rivalry. Mishra had been convicted in the 2011 murder of a trader, Rajendra Keshri, and had more than 20 criminal cases against him, including charges of dacoity in banks and jewellery stores.
A resident of Buxar district, Mishra was first arrested by the STF in Kolkata in 2014. He was lodged at Buxar Central Jail before being transferred to Bhagalpur Central Jail, and later to Beur Central Jail. His 15-day medical parole was due to end on July 18.
The Patna High Court had in February 2020 commuted Mishra’s death sentence to life imprisonment, along with that of his associate Sheru Singh.
