Bengal's hydra-headed industry of extortion that goes by the name of syndicate has expanded its reach from infrastructure and real estate to your doorstep, eyeing a stake in everything from the house you are building to the office you are refurbishing.

Metro highlights personal stories of syndicate torment in the heart of the city as goon culture flourishes in Trinamul raj.

Victim 1

A south Calcutta businessman who was getting his ancestral house demolished in 2013 to build a new one had 20-odd youths barging into his office one day and demanding to know the name of the developer who had got the contract.

"I wasn't around that day; so they grabbed a middle-aged employee in my office by the collar and asked him to reveal the name of the developer I had chosen. When he refused, they slapped him hard," the businessman said.

Before leaving, the goon gang sounded an ominous warning. "Tell your malik (employer) to sit for talks with us if he wants to build the house," they threatened.

This happened in mid-2013, even before workers had started demolishing the businessman's ancestral two-storey property. "I had hired labourers from outside for the job but work hadn't started. The same group of young men met me in my house and said I have to hire their workers. I asked them who told them that my ancestral property would be demolished," he recounted.

The reply surprised him. "We are the (Trinamul) councillor's men and any such information reaches us first," a youth declared.

When the businessmen told the group that he had already contracted a private agency and that work would start in a week, they insisted that some more "local" workers be hired. "We run the syndicate that does this type of work in the area. If you give the contract to outsiders, what will we do?" they demanded.

The businessman approached the councillor the next day, only to be advised to "settle the matter amicably". He then hired a few workers from the syndicate.

So, why didn't he go to police? "I was scared," he said.

He even arranged a meeting between the contractor he had chosen and the syndicate leaders. "What else could I have done? The syndicate boss had told me explicitly, 'You have to hire labour and buy materials from me because your building is coming up in our area. This is the rule.' He was polite but firm," the businessman recalled.

When the syndicate members had first met him, he wanted to but didn't dare ask why their men had manhandled his employee. "I only asked them to give me some time. The next day, I got a call from a Trinamul leader who advised me to go ahead with my project but also 'look after the unemployed youths'."

After their demands had been met, deception replaced intimidation. "I understood the game being played within a few days. They were supplying 25 to 30 per cent less materials in every truckload I paid for. The developer pointed this out, but both of us decided to keep quiet," the businessman said.

His problems didn't end there. "I thought I had seen the last of them, but then came another person who demanded the contract to build doors and windows and lay the electricity cables. I only requested him to ensure that quality wasn't compromised since this would be my home."

Victim 2

A woman setting up her dream venture - a boutique-cum-salon in New Alipore - learnt the hard way that no business is immune from syndicate greed.

"She had found a suitable place to rent after a long search and spent a lot of money in doing it up just the way she wanted the boutique and salon to look. The lady's family was excited about the launch and so was she. But days before the opening, some thugs arrived at the salon and demanded that she pay Rs 10 lakh or pack her bags," said a source close to the woman.

Before the incident, the only thing she knew about syndicates was that they preyed on construction sites in places like Rajarhat. She couldn't have imagined that they would knock on her door.

The woman tried to reason with the gang - that claimed to owe allegiance to a Trinamul minister - but they wouldn't budge. She offered to employ some of them in jobs that didn't require skills. They wouldn't accept that either. The only options were to buy peace or face trouble.

"After days of negotiation, the matter was settled in cash. The boutique opened but she never got over the trauma," the source said.

Victim 3

Camac Street has long been the preferred office address for many businesses, but an entrepreneur about to fulfil this dream hadn't bargained for syndicate trouble the moment he started doing up his 4,000sq ft space.

An emissary of the "local Trinamul heavyweight" asked the entrepreneur to meet him before proceeding with the work. He dithered but his friends advised him that he must keep the party leader in good humour.

The entrepreneur did as told, only to be served a demand for an unspecified amount of cash to carry on his business without any disruption. He obliged out of fear.

A few days later, sidekicks of the local Trinamul boss came up to him and demanded the interior decoration contract. He didn't have a choice.

Are you a victim of the syndicate racket? Tell ttmetro@abpmail.com (Your identity will not be revealed if you wish toremain anonymous)