A gutsy deputy commissioner of Kolkata Police took on a mob in Garden Reach 41 years ago, leading his team into a slum. He and another policeman did not make it back alive.
IPS officer Vinod Mehta and constable Mokhtar Ali died on March 17, 1984.
Mehta was a fearless officer at a time when police played a crucial role in the cat-and-mouse chase between Customs officers and smugglers.
Liberalisation, or opening up of the economy, was still a decade away. Exorbitant import duties on all foreign items ensured any area near a port, be it in Mumbai or Kolkata, would be a magnet for the underworld. Whether Dongri or Garden Reach, neighbourhoods depended on the smuggling economy and British-era companies located near the ports.
A retired Customs officer recounted an incident when asked about Mehta.
“Sometime in the late 1970s or maybe early ’80s, we had raided Fancy Market [in Kidderpore, known for smuggled goods]. As soon as we arrived, some people started running towards a godown with their bags. A few of our officers chased them into a slum. When we caught them and snatched their bags, which were full of imported watches, it was too late.”
A mob of about 30 men had surrounded them. R.K. Handa, the then DC (port), arrived in the nick of time. Crude bombs flew at the cops to prevent them from approaching.
“When we told him [Handa] some of our officers had not come back, he called then-assistant commissioner Mehta and said: ‘Take your toughest constables, go inside, disperse the mob and rescue the officers’,” the Customs officer remembered.
Handa was later given the charge to quell the Darjeeling agitation of the mid-1980s. In 2014, he contested the Lok Sabha polls from Barrackpore constituency as a BJP candidate.
That day in Kidderpore, Mehta, who according to the Customs officer resembled Bollywood playback singer Mukesh, led the constables into the slum, led the lathi charge and brought back the officers.
A few years later, Mehta was killed during Holi. He had become a thorn for the anti-socials in the area as DC port. He had again gone deep into the alleyways of crime without fear.
How he died was recounted by former police officer Runu Guha Niyogi in his book Shada Ami, Kalo Ami (The White Me And The Black Me), and as discussed in the courts.
The story started when a few young boys scaled a tree and stole coconuts at Fatehpur Village Road in Garden Reach.
The boys who stole the coconuts and the coconut tree owner were from different communities. This led to a communal conflagration. Hundreds gathered in the area. Around 10.15am on March 17, 1984, a phone call was made to the control room at Lalbazar, the Kolkata Police headquarters.
Lalbazar alerted the officers of Mehta, who as DC port then was in-charge of the local police stations including Garden Reach, South Port and Ekbalpore.
The sound of crude bombs was reverberating across the area. Stones were being pelted. Some shanties were on fire. Mehta got ready to tackle the rioters in his style. When an officer who often boasted of being fearless said he was ill and could not go, Mehta went to the area accompanied by assistant commissioner K.K. Sharma.
They were joined by a team of 20 from the local cops who had rifles and teargas.
By this time, another team under the leadership of the officer in-charge (OC) of Garden Reach police station had reached the spot.
Mehta’s team had around 10 officers. Everyone carried firearms. Mehta carried a lathi and wore a helmet.
Another reserve force team, sent from Lalbazar, also reached the spot.
The reserve force went in before the Garden Reach OC’s team arrived. The mob chased them. In the melee, one constable fired. A man — later identified as Subrata Bhattacharya — died on the spot.
Mehta appealed to the crowd to calm down. The mob responded by pelting stones.
Mehta and the OC’s team lathicharged their way inside. A sub-inspector fired three rounds from his revolver. One constable fired another round from his rifle.
Mehta saw a body in front of J-92 building in the Methorpara Lane. He ordered a few men from his team to go back and call for help in taking it away. He posted two constables to guard the body and moved on.
Mehta thought he was dispersing the crowd but it was the rioters who were leading him into their lair. By now his team had become thin. Only about eight to nine remained with Mehta.
When they reached Dhankheti Masjid, they sought refuge inside. Outside, hundreds had gathered, armed with swords, crude bombs. They were baying for the blood of the policemen.
According to Guha Niyogi’s account, Sharma and four of his constables fired in the air and barged their way out and took shelter inside a dilapidated godown.
It was noon. Mehta was encircled by the mob. No one knows where the other officers were. One hour and 45 minutes had passed since the police were first alerted.
Sharma and his team tried to seek shelter in a house, but were refused. They reached the spot where the body was. No one had come to take it away. The two guards posted with the body left with Sharma. They ran for about 450 metres to reach Paharpur Road.
At the Paharpur Road, DC headquarters Subimal Dasgupta, DC special branch Dinesh Bajpayei (he later became commissioner) and special branch DC(II) Partha Bhattacharya were waiting.
“I have a head injury. I am going to the hospital,” Sharma said to his superiors and left for CMRI, Ekbalpore.
Mehta was stuck at Ramnagar Lane, about a kilometre inside.
“Where is a telephone? We need to make an emergency call,” DC Bhattacharya could be heard saying as he headed towards the local police station, according to Guha Niyogi’s book.
Other constables boarded a lorry. Dasgupta and other senior officers waited, unsure of the next course of action.
“Should we go to help Mehta?” DC headquarters Dasgupta apparently asked his force.
“There won’t be any need. Saheb is a Punjabi... he can take on 10-15 people… you will see how he beats up a few criminals and comes out,” replied the OCs of South Port (Phani Dey) and Ekbalpore (Amiya Bandopadhay).
Both Dey and Bandopadhya had served under Mehta.
Inside the lane, Mehta and Mokhtar ran for their lives. Mehta hid inside a house, coincidentally of a police reserve force constable. He hid in the bathroom. The mob broke down the door.
“I’am DC, Port. Don’t you know me?” Mehta said.
“Disi, Usi nahi janta, [Don’t care, DC or otherwise],” one of the criminals replied.
Mehta was hit on the head twice with an iron rod. He was dead by 12.30 pm. The criminals slashed his body, disrobed him down to underwear, burnt his uniform, took out the body through the locality and threw it into a drain.
Constable Mokhtar had also taken shelter in the bathroom of another house. He was stabbed and killed. His body was chopped into five pieces and burned.
It was 1.30pm when then-Kolkata Police commissioner Nirupam Som reached the spot. Finally, the force entered the lane. First, Mokhtar’s body was found. Much later, Mehta was found.
On Monday, the Kolkata Police wrote on their Facebook page: “We have never forgotten them. We never will. Salute.” Kolkata Police commissioner Manoj Verma, Mehta’s wife and the family members of Ali were among those who attended the memorial event.