Kidnapped by criminals for not paying up? Better think twice before lodging a complaint with the local police, or you may end up behind bars. This was the lesson that Sanatan Ghosh, 36, learnt the hard way.

Ghosh, a resident of Hatuipara, in Sonarpur, on the southern fringes of the city, was allegedly kidnapped by a few local youths backed by the district CPM. His sister lodged an FIR with Sonarpur police station on March 5. That very day, a police team, headed by sub-inspector Shambhunath Nath, rescued Ghosh, brought him to the police station and threw him into the lock-up, after forcing him to part with his belongings.

“It was around 3.15 pm when we reached the police station. Nath asked me to hand over my watch, purse, gold chain, belt and shoes. Then, he made me sign on a blank sheet and took me to the lock-up,” Ghosh said.

“From the lock-up, I saw Nath taking money from the criminals, who arrived an hour later. As soon as they left, he came to me and said: ‘Ki go gocharan, kemon lagchhe? Ora to party-r chheley, kidnap korleo kidnap hoina! (Hi idiot, how do you feel? Those are boys of the party. If they kidnap you, you won’t be able to prove it)’. However, I pleaded with him to release me and agreed to do whatever he asked me,” Ghosh said.

Ghosh was released and allowed to go home in the dead of the night. When he returned the following day to lodge a complaint against Nath at Sonarpur police station, officer-in-charge Amit Roy Chowdhury refused to register his complaint.

Since then, Ghosh has been running from the district police authorities to the human rights commission but to no avail.

“When I got no response from the higher authorities, I filed a petition with the chief judicial magistrate of Alipore court and he forwarded a copy of the petition to the local police to register a complaint. From that day, I am being harassed by Nath and the criminals,” Ghosh said.

Officer-in-charge Roy Chowdhury denied the allegations, saying Ghosh is a cheat and out there to tarnish the image of the police. “He has a bad name in the locality. He is trying to defame us by bringing false charges,” Chowdhury said.

“Three persons approached me today to lodge a complaint against Ghosh. He had allegedly cheated them and since then, he has been absconding. I have taken down the complaint and if need be, I shall summon him to the police station,” he added.

“We are looking into Ghosh’s allegations and if the police are found guilty of being in cahoots with local goons, action will be taken against the guilty,” asserted Justice Shyamal Sen, chairman of the human rights commission.