Mauling the Mafia
The President was fully in control of the situation by the tenth day of the emergency. The initial tussles with the political parties were over. The politicians were at a loss to find a way to deal with the situation. The new election laws were a big threat and were likely to finish off the political careers of many. The threats of eviction and withdrawal of official transportation and perks loomed large and unsettled them. But they had been unable to muster adequate strength to organize demonstrations to have any impact. Supreme Court was taking its time to give its judgment on the imposition of emergency. The urgently needed ordinances had been promulgated and had been well received by the public. However, there was skepticism. There was no dearth of laws in the country. It was their implementation that was the problem. The police had been ham strung by political interference. They were also apprehensive of the wrath of the politicians. They were unwilling to act against people with political patronage. At times they were out gunned or bought out. It was now time to act and convince people that the President meant business.
The President decided to start by attacking the Mafia. He called a conference of the Chief of Army Staff, Director Generals of the BSF and CRPF, the heads of the intelligence agencies and the police chiefs of all the states. He said that the most powerful and politically connected Mafia dons in each state were to be dealt with on priority. The action was to be a search and seizure operation at all premises known to belong to the particular don and his henchmen. The raids were to be carried out by the Army, BSF and CRPF so that local influence and loyalties and threats of reprisal were eliminated. The state police were to provide detachments of two officers and twenty policemen including 10 women policemen for making the arrests and taking the post operation legal actions for each Army, BSF or CRPF column. The state police chiefs and the intelligence agencies were asked to recommend the Mafia dons to be eliminated within two days. The President would then decide on the targets and inform the Chiefs of Army, BSF and CRPF about their objectives. Each team was to be accompanied by a video team from the media. Reporters were also welcome. By the fifteenth day every thing was ready. The operations were to be launched at dawn. Persons of all columns were instructed to wear face masks to prevent identification by criminals and subsequent reprisals.
Major Kulwant Singh was the commander of one of the columns assembled at Siliguri for dealing with the Mafia. He and three other men of the battalion, his driver, his second in command and company junior commissioned officer were the only persons who had seen the targets. They, accompanied by an officer of the Bihar CID, had seen the target houses in civil dress in a civil jeep the previous day. Both houses belonged to a notorious Mafia don called Bhola Nath Chaudhury. Mr. Chaudhury was close to the local MLA and his name struck terror in the population of the area. He was reported to be involved in many nefarious activities like trans-border smuggling, gun running, induction of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and settling them, extortion and arranging political murders. He was reported to have a number of well armed henchmen. He had two massive houses with high boundary walls. One was at Kishenganj and the other was at his native village Birganj where he was a big land lord. He spent most of his time in his village citadel.
Major Kulwant had made his plans. He divided his troops into two columns one under himself and the other under his second in command Captain Patel. Each column had one police officer, ten policemen including five women policemen and one video camera team. For each team he had thirty soldiers and one recoilless rifle mounted on a jeep. He had prepared models of the sites and briefed his team. The plan was simple. The teams were to reach the targets before dawn and surround them. The people from the nearby houses were to be shifted so that they did not become casualties in the cross fire. After dawn the houses were to be approached and the inmates be asked to come out and allow the house to be searched. It would be fine if there was no resistance. But if there was resistance, force was to be used and the houses captured. The results of the search were to be reported. However, no one was told as to where the houses were or to whom they belonged.
By 8 PM every thing was ready. Every member of the raiding team had taken his meal and pack breakfast. Equipment and ammunition was checked. The teams mounted their vehicles and led by their commanders, started for their destination. Each column had an ambulance and medical attendant and one doctor.
Major Kulwant reached Birganj at about 3 AM. It was a big village. He stopped the column on the outskirts of the village. He then dismounted with his soldiers and moved towards the target on foot to maintain surprise and to avoid alerting the Mafia. There was a faint moon and the visibility was not too bad. The target was on the outskirts of the village. There were a cluster of houses adjoining it on the east. Otherwise the area around was open for about 50 yards. The dogs of the village began to bark as they approached. Major Kulwant had no difficulty in finding the place and the house was soon surrounded. 20 men were to take up positions along the perimeter and 10 men formed the assault party. There was a school building about 200 yards from the house. Major Kulwant set up his administrative base there. He then collected the assault team and went to get the adjoining house vacated.
The troops went and knocked at the doors of the nearby houses. The inmates were alarmed at seeing the armed men. There was commotion, cries of alarm and confusion. Some one from the target house asked what was going on. “Police”, cried one of the villagers. A burly man with a double barrel gun slung on his shoulder came boldly to investigate the commotion. He had nothing to fear from the local police. He was shocked to find a couple of soldiers pointing rifles at him. He was quickly relieved of his gun, and mobile phone, hand cuffed and marched to the school building for interrogation.
The guard at the gate began to get worried when his companion did not come back. He locked the gate and went to inform his master. Bhola Nath Chaudhury was annoyed at being woken up at the early hour. When he had heard the watchman’s story, he asked the watchman to wake up the rest of the men and tell them to take up their positions. He also asked two armed men to go and look for the one who had disappeared. These two men were also nabbed by Major Kulwant’s soldiers. When the two did not return, Bhola Nath Choudhury was both puzzled and worried. He looked at his watch. It was 4 AM. It would be dawn soon. He dressed and went to the roof to see what was going on. The light was poor. He could not see anyone. He went down and rang up his MLA friend and demanded to know what was going on. The MLA friend knew nothing. Mr. Chaudhury next rang up the local thanedar (officer in charge of the police station) and wanted to know what was going on. The thanedar also knew nothing. He went up to the roof again. This time he saw a couple of soldiers. He immediately knew he was in trouble. He rushed down and again rang the MLA. He told him that there were soldiers surrounding his house and he had to get them removed at once. The MLA said there was emergency imposed and pleaded inability to help. He said that he could have done something if it had been the local police, but he had no influence on the army.
Major Kulwant was watching the house from his vantage point. The light was getting better. He could see some armed men on the roof. He decided to wait for some more time. He passed the order to his men to have their breakfast and tea. He decided to start the operations at 7 AM. The television crew had finished interviewing the apprehended men. They now located themselves to film the battle.
Bhola Nath Choudhury was pondering over the problem. He had learnt that his Kishenganj house was also under siege. He could anticipate what was going to happen. He was also aware of the Presidents decree on holding of unauthorized weapons and cash. Both would be found on the premises. He had a difficult decision to make. Should he fight or should he surrender? If he fought, the result was a foregone conclusion. It was difficult to fight the army. If he surrendered, he would be in jail for life and possibly face death by torture. But if they could hold out till night fall, he could make a break for it under the cover of darkness. He decided to fight.
At
7 AM, Major Kulwant picked up the loud hailer and asked the inmates of the house to surrender. Nothing happened. He waited fifteen minutes and announced again. Again there was no response. The time had come to take the next step. He knew there were about 12 armed men in the house. Assaulting the house would be tricky. He did not want any of his men killed if he could help it. He had a few warning shots fired. He also promised that if they surrendered, they would be treated well. His shots were greeted with shots from the house. The battle had begun.
Major Kulwant now made his plan of assault. He decided to draw the attention of the defenders of the house to the west side and assault the house from the east where the smaller houses provided some cover. He called his order group and gave them the orders. The recoilless rifle commander was to create a breach in the western wall and this was to be followed up by a smoke screen on the west side with the 2 inch mortar and a heavy volume of fire from the west side. He and the assault group were going to clear the house from the east side. Once the main gate was opened, the policemen and women and the camera crew could enter the house. The medical attendant and ambulance should also move in. The time for creating the breach from the west was decided to be 9 AM. From 8 AM onwards the other troops were to fire intermittently to keep the defenders on the roof and the windows off guard. Next the watches were synchronized and Major Kulwant and his assault team left for their position on the east side of the house. They made a long detour to ensure that they were not seen.
Bhola Nath Choudhury also briefed his men. He told his men that they were going to fight it out. The soldiers must not be allowed to come near the house. After night fall they were going to escape. He took up a vantage position on the roof. Soon the intermittent exchange of fire commenced. At exactly 9 AM there was a loud explosion and a portion of the western wall collapsed. Immediately there after the smoke bombs began to fall with dull thuds. A cloud of white smoke rose from near the wall. Heavy firing commenced. Mr. Coudhury and most of his men rushed to the west side of the house to meet the threat. The smoke and firing continued for about 10 minutes.
Major Kulwant and his men jumped up from behind one of the huts on the east side and rushed to the wall. An anti tank grenade created a small breach. The men rushed in through the breach and cleared the house room by room as per well rehearsed fighting in built up area drills. In the process they shot one man. Women cried in terror in one of the ground floor rooms. Within ten minutes they reached the roof and engaged the armed men from the back. Within a few moments, the battle was over. Most of the defenders including Mr. Bhola Nath Chaudhury were wounded, two had been killed. There were no casualties to the soldiers.
The gates of the house were now thrown open. The police and media men came in. The women were escorted away by the women police. The wounded were given first aid and evacuated to the civil hospital and kept under escort. The house was thoroughly searched. Over Rs. 45 lakhs in cash, 10 kg of gold ornaments, 6 AK 47 rifles, 12 shot guns, 6 country made and two 9mm pistols and a large quantity of ammunition were recovered.
The evening news on various television channels were dominated by the news of the raids in various parts of India, particularly in UP and Bihar. At some places the criminals had surrendered without a fight. At others they had fought. About Rs. 6 Crores and over 200 weapons of various types had been recovered.
The next day the intelligence agencies reported that the remaining members of the Mafia had gone under ground. But the raids on their houses continued. Occasionally, cash and weapons were recovered from their premises. The population, who lived under their threat breathed, a sigh of relief. Information about the missing men kept coming. They were hunted down. The Mafia had been mauled.
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