COMMENTARY
INTERVIEWS
SPECIALS
CHAT
ARCHIVES

Cops clueless about missing Exide chief; WB rules out CBI probe

Arup Chanda in Calcutta

Even after 72 hours of his mysterious disappearance, the whereabouts of Exide Industries Chairman and Managing Satyabrata Ganguly are still not known.

Ganguly, who went for a morning walk at around 0500 hours from his Alipore bungalow in south Calcutta on Friday last, never came back.

Deputy Commissioner (detective department) Narayan Ghosh said on Sunday, ''Although a number of people, including Ganguly's wife and some other relatives, had already been questioned, no definite clue had been found so far.''

West Bengal Home Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharya today ruled out a Central Bureau of Investigation inquiry into the disappearance.

Bhattacharya told the state assembly that the police were investigating on the basis of certain clues, which he did not divulge. He said Ganguly's family members could not provide any leads.

''I have full confidence in the city police. Therefore, there is no need for a CBI inquiry,'' Bhattacharya said.

The police are also probing any connection between Ganguly's disappearance and the reported threat to the battery major's owners -- the Raheja group -- from some gangsters. The city police are in the process of questioning the company officials in Calcutta and Bombay.

The Calcutta Police visited the Exide office in Calcutta and questioned a number of its senior officials.

According to a senior Exide official, "The police did come and we are in constant touch with senior officers. They are treating the case with utmost importance."

Even Ganguly's family members who had been repeatedly questioned since his disappearance on Friday morning from his posh residence in Alipore failed to help the police in its investigation.

According to a senior police official, "Usually when a person is missing we definitely find some clues. In case of kidnapping at least a telephone call comes demanding a ransom. But in this case we are up against a wall".

The police is now working on various theories and one of it is that the main target of the kidnappers was Exide owner, Bombay-based Rajan Raheja, who also has business interests in Dubai, while Ganguly is the victim.

The police received reports that threat calls had earlier been made to Raheja demanding a huge amount of money.

According to a police official, "We will certainly get in touch with the crime branch of Bombay police in this regard. We have reports about Dawood Ibrahim's men demanding money from the Rahejas. But we are still groping in the dark as we are yet to be sure that he has been kidnapped".

The police also has reports about an attempt on Raheja's life by Dawood's men in Dubai but so far it has not received any positive information from any intelligence agencies which are also working in this case.

The police will ask its Bombay counterparts to find out whether the Rahejas have received any telephone call demanding a ransom for Ganguly as he is very close to the owners.

"Some insurgent groups in the north-east are into this kind of operation. They kidnap senior officials of corporate houses and then demand a huge amount in a foreign country in exchange of their freedom."

Although the police is yet to arrive at a conclusion about Ganguly's disappearance, a section of them strongly believe the possibility of kidnapping.

They observed that gangs from outside West Bengal had previously carried out such operations. Recently, they had kidnapped a businessman and extorted a huge amount of money as ransom. The businessman's family denied paying up but the police found out through its informers that the ransom was paid abroad.

Last December, the Uttar Pradesh police killed four men of Babloo Srivastava's gang in Calcutta's Park Street area early morning when they were about to kidnap a hotel owner.

However, another section of police officers believes that even if Ganguly had been kidnapped, he was being held in captivity within the city as all checkposts on the border, airports and railway stations were immediately alerted.

Whatever be the case, with the Exide chairman missing since the last four days and the police failing to make any breakthrough in the case, industrialists and businessmen in Calcutta are getting panicky.

The number of people who went to the Agri Horticulture Society Garden for their morning walk has diminished.

Industrialists like former Exide owner and close friend of Ganguly, Sudarshan Birla, who still visits the garden in the morning, are accompanied by private security guards.

After the December shootout, Calcutta Police had asked the Agri Horticulture Society to beef up security as many industrialists used its garden for morning walk. The society was asked to issue photo identity cards for the morning walkers as no kidnapper could then pose as one who came for a stroll.

Till date, militant trade unionism, lack of work culture and proper infrastructure were the usual complaints of industrialists and prospective investors in West Bengal. They had always praised the law and order situation in the state.

But this case has sent shivers through the corporate circles in Calcutta which have taken up the issue with the state government and sought a meeting with Chief Minister Jyoti Basu.

Additional reportage: UNI

Businessmen aid rehab plan to combat crime in Calcutta

Business news