A scrap-iron-trader was shot dead near Salkia in Howrah under Malipanchghara Police Station on Thursday morning. The victim has been identified as Vijay Mahato (51). The police have arrested two businessmen, Akhilesh Singh and Dinesh Jaiswal. “The deceased had criminal cases pending against him. We have arrested the two suspects and our investigation is going on,” Rashid Munir Khan, the additional deputy commissioner of police-Howrah-north said.

The modus operandi of this murder is bears resemblance to the murder of Sanjay Singh and Kishanmani Jain, the two scrap-iron traders who were murdered in 2006 and 2007.

 The police report claimed that the mastermind behind these murders was extortionist Amit Singh alias Amit Choudhury, a Bihar-based ganglord now staying in Nepal and extorting money from scrap-iron-traders throughout India.

“We can’t rule out the possibility as Mahato was attached to a scrap-iron-syndicate and he might have denied giving money to Singh,” A police officer said.

Sources said that Mahato was engaged in a tussle with Singh and Jaiswal. They were old partners but when Jaiswal asked for money, he refused.

“The criminals came on a motorcycle at Jai Biwi Road where Mahato was standing and shot him once which killed him on spot,” the police informed.

“We have reason to believe that a hitman was hired for this crime,” a police officer said.

Sources informed that Mahato was close to Palash Das, a notified criminal who was gunned down at a factory this May. After Das was murdered, he became little bit weak and was trying to form a strong gang.