Marxist Coordination Committee chief A.K. Roy has started mobilising public opinion against coal mafia

Dhanbad, July 23: The “supari” against Marxist Co-ordination Committee’s Nirsa legislator Arup Chatterjee has spurred party chief A.K. Roy into galvanising mass support in his lone crusade against the coal mafia so they are “socially and politically isolated”.

Roy’s fight dates back to the time when the coal mines were not nationalised and were run by private owners. The veteran trade union leader says he has steeled himself against threats to his life. “The threat is always there and will continue until the fight is over. We are not scared and can take care of our security ourselves,” he said.

But it is the latest disclosure by Bihar’s crack “supari” (contract) killer Sanjay Singh that he had an assignment to kill Chatterjee, the Marxist Co-ordination Committee’s MLA from Nirsa whose father Gurudas Chatterjee also fell to assassin’s bullets in 1998, that has prompted Roy to appeal to the people to join his battle to ensure that the mafia does not spread its tentacles any further than it already has.“What has come to light is that prisons, which are supposed to check crimes, have actually become seats of conspiracy. Jails have turned into places where murders are plotted,” Roy said.

Political observers believe the mafia is itching to settle scores with Roy and his party because of their attempts to strike at the coal cartel’s economic backbone. Though daggers against the mafia were drawn in the early seventies, the battle intensified with Gurudas Chatterjee, then the MLA from Nirsa, steering the struggle against the mafia engaged in illegal mining in the late nineties.

The elder Chatterjee was murdered by contract killers and his son, Arup, was elected on a sympathy wave.

Thereafter, the party intensified its campaign against the mafia and demanded that the income-tax commissioner in Dhanbad order a mass assessment of income and assets of gangsters, influential contractors and politicians.

The issue was also raised in Parliament by some Left party members. But nothing came of it.

This inaction on part of the government is what Roy is frustrated about.

“The administrative machinery always goes about chopping the shoots. But we want the roots of the mafia gangs to be cut off. Their economic backbone should be broken and the authorities should find out their source of income and source of the weapons and wealth,” he said.

The party has also targeted the land mafia and challenged the syndicate of influential builders and politicians, which tried to grab at least 22 acres of land of local inhabitants and tribals in Dhanbad’s Telipara area and other segments. The party workers clashed with henchmen of the builders at many places, prompting authorities to clamp prohibitory orders under Section 144 of CrPC.

“There have been a number of cases where the mafia has tried to grab the land of the poor. Those who do not want to sell their land are threatened with dire consequences and are forced to part with their property at throwaway prices decided by the musclemen. The Dhanbad coal belt has, of late, seen the syndicate of promoters, builders, politicians and a section of government officials going on a land grabbing spree to construct new apartments,” said an official of the district administration.

Roy wants the administration to find out where this money comes from. “These gangsters, when booked under the law, manage to hire leading lawyers of the Supreme Court to plead their cases. These lawyers charge anything between Rs 2 lakh and Rs 10 lakh for a single argument. The administration should monitor the channels through which this money flows,” he said.