DENS OF SLEAZE AND CRIME STRAIGHT OUT OF A BOLLYWOOD SCRIPT

One of Calcutta's worst-kept secrets is the thriving business of illegal dance bars like the one in Thakurpukur where a brawl last week triggered a shooting in which a young Trinamul worker died.

Many of these sleazy bars are known to make more money in a night than upscale nightclubs that comply with the stringent restrictions clamped by the excise department and police, sources said.

The few bars that operate with a "crooning licence" - as the name suggests, a performer is only allowed to "croon" - misuse it to parade a bevy of non-singers who sway provocatively to loud music. Patrons shower currency notes on the girls, Chandni Bar style, while pimps hover on the periphery of the stage, ready to strike a pick-up deal.

The cops occasionally come calling, but allegedly only to collect their share of the cash.

Metro takes a peek into the murky world of dance bars that flourish in a legal vacuum.

The bandmaster

He is neither a representative of the owner nor an employee of the dance bar, but he calls the shots when it comes to entertainment. He is invariably a person with "connections" - political and/or criminal - and his primary responsibility is to ensure that the patrons of the bar leave happy.

The bandmaster handpicks the crooners and dancers who keep the cash flowing and pockets up to 60 per cent of this income. The bar owner's share is usually fixed. "A bandmaster pays the owner anything between Rs 25,000 and Rs 30,000 a night as rent for a dance floor at a popular bar," a source involved in the dance bar business said.

Most bandmasters hire musicians and crooners from the outskirts of the city but pick girls from north India as dancers. "Dancers from Punjab do especially well in Calcutta. Some girls are from Mumbai and Bangalore," said the source, who runs a bar-cum-restaurant in the Tiljala neighbourhood.

After the rent for the dance floor is taken care of, every rupee earned during the course of a night goes into the bandmaster's kitty. "If the members take care of their accommodation, the ratio of division is 50:50. When the bandmaster makes the arrangements, he keeps 60 per cent of the income," the source said.

On special occasions, a veteran bandmaster can take home several lakh rupees even after paying the floor rent and distributing a part of the earnings among the band members. "Bandmasters deal in lakhs on New Year's Eve and festival nights," the source said.

Investigators have identified the bandmaster of the Hard Rocks Bar, where the brawl preceding Thursday's shooting had taken place, as Durga. The reason for the altercation was apparently Durga's refusal to play a song that Nanti Ghosh, a customer who happened to be his rival, had demanded to hear.

Floor management

Managing the floor is the bandmaster's job but keeping the administration from poking its nose into the business is the owner's headache.

Although a bar owner cannot lay claim to the money showered by patrons on the crooners and dancers, the rent and the spike in sale of food and alcohol when the performers pull in the crowds are more than enough to make him happy. "It is a safe bet. The rent from the floor is a fixed income. The rise in sale of food and liquor are additional benefits," a bar owner said.

An excise licence, a crooning licence and police clearance are mandatory for a bar that also offers entertainment, though many establishments treat the last two as optional or manageable. Even if a bar has all three permissions, it is illegal to have women dance to entertain. This vital component of bar entertainment is added to the mix by employing the oldest trick in the book.

"From the police to the politician, everyone gets a share," a source said.

At the Hard Rocks Bar, which comes under the jurisdiction of Haridevpur police station, Durga would play both bandmaster and bar boss although the place is owned by three partners. Sources in the anti-rowdy squad at Lalbazar said Durga, who allegedly enjoys the patronage of a Trinamul MLA and has close links with a section of police officers, had entered into an agreement with the owners that gave them a share far less than they would have earned otherwise.

None of the three co-owners was available for comment.

Durga's "connections" ensured that he didn't need the owners' help to keep the show going without any official interference, the sources said. The dance bar had been allegedly running with an excise license that lapsed in March. "Such things (renewal of excise licence) take time. There is nothing abnormal about a bar running without a licence for a couple of months," an excise official said.

As for entertainment, the owners of Hard Rocks Bar allegedly never applied for a crooning licence.

Pick-up places

The majority of bars that provide live entertainment - legally or on the sly - also operate as pick-up joints. "If a client shows interest in a particular girl, the bandmaster has to be informed immediately. He fixes the deal. A place is arranged somewhere else where the client can move in with the girl. The money she gets is shared with the bandmaster," a source said.

A police crackdown on trafficking on the sidelines of bar entertainment is rare and "lack of evidence" is the common excuse. "Since bar owners and bandmasters have moles everywhere, they get timely alerts ahead of a police raid. Despite repeated warnings, they never install CCTV cameras over the floor. The rest of the cameras are mounted in such a way that you cannot trace any illegal activity," said an officer of the detective department.

Stage for extortion

Booze dens attract black money, providing the perfect platform for extortion. "Some bar employees have a nexus with crime gangs and pass on information if someone rich happens to visit and throw money at the crooners and dancers. Once the man steps out, he is robbed at gunpoint," a police officer said.

Most victims are too inebriated to report the crime and/or have no intention of going to the police to report loss of black money.

A similar incident had occurred recently at the Hard Rocks Bar, the detective department has learnt. A youth named Kartik from Metiabruz had been spotted showering money on the dancers and was robbed of Rs 2 lakh at gunpoint the moment he stepped out of the bar.

"We have information that Durga, who was inside, had activated his brother-in-law Dipu and engaged criminals to commit the robbery. The incident wasn't reported to the police," said an officer of the detective department.

Hand-in-glove

The Thakurpukur incident has strengthened allegations against a section of the administration that illegal dance bars have flourished with its blessings.

Speaking to multiple sources, Metro learnt that bars without permits allegedly operate in collusion with the police at various levels. "Anything between Rs 3,000 and Rs 5,000 is kept aside for the local police station on a daily basis. The money is handed over to the dakbabu on a weekly basis," said a source familiar with the economics of running a dance bar.

A cut allegedly also goes to officers of the anti-rowdy squad that is supposed to carry out surprise raids.

The Hard Rocks Bar is no exception. Investigators probing the shooting early on Thursday said at least two police officers - one from the anti-rowdy squad and the other attached to the local police station - might have been in touch with Durga.