Shootout at south Kolkata gym triggers panic

Kolkata, Sep 21 (PTI) Armed men opened fire at a gym in the busy Charu Market area in south Kolkata on Sunday, triggering a panic, police said.

The gunmen, wearing raincoats and helmets, arrived on a two-wheeler and barged into the gym on the arterial Deshapran Sashmal Road, looking for its owner Joy Kamdar, they said.

Unable to find the gym owner, they fired two rounds in the air and left, they added.

Police said they were investigating the incident from all angles and trying to ascertain if a business rivalry or an extortion bid was the cause of it.

No one was injured in the firing, they said, adding that efforts are being made to nab the armed men who are yet to be identified.

Police said they have recorded the statements of the gym owner and some eyewitnesses.

The gym was teeming with people when the incident happened, police said.

"We have been here for about a year, and such an incident did not happen in the past," a gym employee said. PTI SUS SOM