The gang that had robbed a trader in a car he had boarded after stepping out of a bar on EM Bypass early on Christmas is suspected to have robbed more people coming out of bars along the stretch, police said.

The four accused — Raju Majhi, Santosh Poddar, Sheikh Biki and Arpan Sen -- are said to have told the police that they only targeted people stepping out of these bars.

“They would target people coming out of bars mostly for two reasons - such victims are usually intoxicated and find it difficult to remember details about the incident, and they are often embarrassed to report the crime because of the stigma attached to going to bars in certain sections of society,” said an officer of Tiljala police station.

The police said they had learned from the accused that they had recently robbed another man in a similar fashion after he had stepped out of a bar. However, in the absence of any complaint, the police are yet to get any details about the incident.

Sources said the cops had started analysing CCTV footage of that particular bar. “If the person can be spotted and if he is ready to report the offence, a second case can be started against the gang,” said a senior police officer.

Investigators have learned that the gang had been active on the Bypass since the bars and nightclubs reopened after months of lockdown.

The car in which businessman Anjan Biswas was robbed early on Christmas morning is registered as an app cab. One of the accused - Raju Majhi – is the driver of the cab.

The police said Majhi, 32, would drive the cab during the day and pick up friends at night.

Biswas owns two guesthouses in Anandapur and Kasba and jointly runs a band that performs at a bar on the Bypass. Around 2am on Christmas, he stepped out of the bar and boarded Majhi’s app cab thinking it was a shuttle taxi. There were three other men in the car, other than the driver.

Biswas has told the police that initially he was sitting by a window on the backseat. One of the men asked the driver to stop and stepped out on the pretext of relieving himself. While getting in, he requested Biswas to shift inside.

Once Biswas did so, he was allegedly blindfolded, pinned on the floor of the vehicle and robbed of his wallet containing Rs 25,000, gold chain and ATM card. He was also allegedly forced to share the ATM card PIN.

The men allegedly withdrew Rs 40,000 from an ATM on the Bypass using the card. Biswas was allowed to go on Dhalai Bridge near Garia.

The police said though the complainant had not been able to share details about the car or its occupants as he was blindfolded, they identified the car from the footage of a CCTV camera installed near the ATM kiosk.