Oct. 28: Three senior officials of a labour unrest-hit private port operator were allegedly forced out of their apartment last night by an armed gang hours before the company was to resume operations, driven to a station, bundled into a train to Calcutta and warned against setting foot in Haldia again.

Haldia Bulk Terminals (HBT) officials Captain Manpreet Jolly, Jagadish Behara and Bhushan Patil, his wife and one-year-old daughter reached Calcutta early today and took a flight to Visakhapatnam in the afternoon. Jolly, general manger (operations) and the senior-most among the three, pledged not to return to Haldia — “not before I make my will”.

HBT, which could not resume operations today, expressed shock at the “complete breakdown of law and order at Haldia”.

The Trinamul-backed dock union, which has been demanding that 275 workers HBT sacked last month be reinstated, denied involvement in the incident.

The Telegraph spoke to Jolly, Behara, the police and a Trinamul trade union leader.

Captain Manpreet Jolly

“At 10.55 last night, we sensed trouble. We saw many unknown people on the building premises (Sankhini Apartments, 4km from the port. Patil, his family and Behara lived in the second-floor flat and Jolly had come to meet them). They started calling out our names.

“We switched off the lights, closed the windows, bolted the door and called up the local police station at 11.03pm. A police patrol van came at 11.35pm. The miscreants hid somewhere. After looking around, the police found nothing amiss and left the building.

“Around 12.45am, the miscreants returned. We could hear their footsteps in the corridor. They broke open the door with sledgehammers and took Bhushan Patil, his wife and child downstairs. They made Patil call us up.

“Behara and I came down. We could not identify anyone since the gang members were wearing monkey caps and mufflers. They were good to us, probably because we had been extremely cautious not to antagonise them. A couple of them were flaunting guns.”

(This was corroborated by an occupant of a third-floor apartment. He said: “I woke up hearing loud voices. I saw some people breaking the door of a flat. They threatened the port officials with dire consequences if they stayed in Haldia any longer and tried to resume dock operations. The assailants dragged out a man, his wife and baby.”)

Jolly said all five of them were packed into a Bolero. “We were not blindfolded. We were taken to Mecheda station (50km away). They ensured we buy tickets and board the first train to Calcutta. They told us never to set foot in Haldia again and that we will face dire consequences if we do so.”

Jagadish Behara

“The police came twice but both times, the miscreants hid themselves. Jolly and I called up the police superintendent, sub-divisional police officer and the officer in charge of Haldia police station. They assured us that no harm would be done to us. We requested the SP to give us police protection and help us leave the town. He said he would look into the matter.”

Police

SDPO Amitava Maity, said: “HBT CEO Gurpreet Malhi lodged complaints with the SP and the Haldia OC today. We have started a case of kidnapping.”

Asked why the police took more than 30 minutes to reach the apartment despite repeated calls and the presence of an outpost barely 500 metres from the building, Maity said: “The police went to the spot but by then, the culprits had left.”

Trinamul union

Utpal Bera, the general secretary of the INTTUC-affiliated dock union, said: “The retrenched workers whom we are backing have nothing to do with the alleged incident. The three officials were not kidnapped but left on their own.”

HBT

The cargo handler, which runs mechanised operations at two berths at the Haldia port, said it was becoming “increasingly difficult” to carry on operations there.

“We were ready for some problems but this has reached a new low. I am still in a state of shock,” HBT CEO Malhi said.

In a written statement, the company said: “The situation is even more shocking that while criminals were trying to force entry in their apartment, HBT’s managers made numerous calls to the police begging for protection. The required help never came despite that about two hours elapsed between the first call and the moment abducted people were driven away from the apartment.”

(Jolly had said the police came around 40 minutes later)

The statement added: “Calcutta High Court directed the state to provide HBT with a safe environment to operate. HBT has even paid a mammoth amount of Rs 17.4 lakh without prejudice for the deployment of police personnel towards restoration of a peaceful work environment so that it can resume its operations. But this morning’s incident illustrates that Haldia police and the state administration are not ready to guarantee safety to HBT as a company.”

Sacked worker

“We will have to be reinstated or else HBT will have to leave Haldia,” said Sheikh Shajahan, who walked in a procession of sacked workers today.