[Reader-list] Pay or be branded a terrorist

[V Ramaswamy]

The Telegraph
Saturday , September 27 , 2008

Pay Rs 1.5 lakh or be branded a terrorist, police told him
- Portrait of a victimIMRAN AHMED SIDDIQUI

When some police officers asked Milan Molla to choose between the tag of
"terrorist" and a Rs 1.5-lakh bribe, the slum-dweller knew he had to pay or
perish.

"They raided our house on August 6 and took me to an SSPD (Special Staff of
Port Division) outpost. They threatened to book me for the blast that killed
four of my family members three days earlier unless I gave in to their
demand," he told *Metro *on Friday.

Milan had lost his younger brother Deedar, cousins Ramzan and Shaqib, and
granduncle Hasan in the freak blast in Cossipore on August 3. Deedar and
Ramzan were trying to break open a discarded shell they had brought home
from the banks of the Hooghly when the blast occurred. Commissioner of
police Gautam Mohan Chakrabarti and other senior officials had ruled out a
terrorist link in the incident that very night.

But a group of policemen from the wing that tracks criminal activity in the
port area then laid a terror trap for the illiterate Milan. With her son in
lock-up and nobody around to help, mother Anwara Bibi borrowed Rs 35,000 and
paid the first instalment to an officer.

"What else could I have done? We were still in mourning when they were back
at our door to pick up my son," Anwara, 50, said.

According to Anwara, Milan's father-in-law Ayub contributed Rs 10,000 and
the rest of the money came from a relative, Musha Ali, and a local trader.

The incident remained under wraps until a fortnight ago, when CPM leader
Mohammad Salim visited Cossipore and some residents of the locality told him
about Milan's ordeal. The MP immediately took up the case with the police
top brass, who promised an inquiry.

"I had gone to Cossipore to attend a meeting when I was told how the family
was being harassed. I met Milan and his mother. They narrated how the police
team had framed Milan. I was surprised to hear that they were forced to pay
Rs 35,000. I called up the police commissioner and asked him to look into
the matter," Salim said.

Commissioner Chakrabarti met the Molla family at Lalbazar the next day.

Rattled by the developments, two officers of the SSPD went to Milan's shanty
a day later and asked the youth to withdraw his complaint. "The policemen
said they would return the money we had paid if I withdrew my complaint. But
why should I?" Milan asked, his confidence stemming from Chakrabarti's
assurance of justice.

Last Monday, Milan and his mother got a call from the deputy commissioner of
the port office, Anand Kumar. "We went there and I identified the person who
had taken money from my mother. The deputy commissioner assured me that
action would be taken against the policemen who had harassed and tortured
me. But I am still scared as they might try to implicate me in another false
case for complaining against them," Milan said, holding his year-old son
Shabbir tightly in his arms.

Milan, who owns a tea shop and occasionally deals in scrap, had escaped the
explosion that killed four members of his family because he had gone to
Science City with some friends on that day. The family lives in a 10x10 feet
shanty in Jyotinagar, Cossipore.

The commissioner of police said the inquiry was on track and the guilty
would not be spared. "The additional commissioner of police, Shivaji Ghosh,
is investigating the allegations. We will take action if our officers are
found guilty," he told Metro.