[India Today]

Published date: 31st Oct 1982

DHANBAD’s dreaded Mafia gangs were riveting topics of conversation last fortnight, and for different reasons. Film actor Shatrughan Sinha, with the blessings of the ruling Congress(1), launched a film on the Mafia, swamping the town’s hotels with an entourage of 250. Sinha was not being foolish in filming so dangerous a subject-his chief patron is Laliteshwar Prasad Sahi, Bihar’s health and family welfare minister. And Union Irrigation Minister Kedar Pandey travelled all the way to Dhanbad to inaugurate the shooting of the film.

“Elsewhere, the town’s walls were plastered with graffiti asking the Government to release National Security Act (NSA) détenu and alleged Mafia gang leader. Suraj Deo Singh, unconditionally. Over the years, Suraj Deo has grown to outrank all his rivals in Dhanbad; he leads the Janata Mazdoor Sangh, and so enjoys widespread support among the industrial town’s workers. Suraj Deo was responsible for organising the Jagata Party convention at Sarnath last year; he is a major financial contributor to Chandra Shekhar’s Janata Party. He owns two cinema halls and a string of real estate properties in Danbad, and has acquired a Robin Hood image by financing the marnages of workers’ children and installing water taps in the town’s squalid streets. Suraj Deo also happens to be an MLA.

On July 27, District Magistrate J.S. Brara arrested Suraj Deo under the NSA. Brara, who joined his post only four months Gick, has already roped in over 14 gang bosses under the NSA; he could lay his hands on Suraj Deo because Deo made the mistake of committing two overt acts of crime within the last six months-he was indicted in an Suraj Deo Singh: powerful clout assault on Tej Narain Singh, a rival gang leader, and in an attempt on the life of S.K. Rai, a Communist Party of India (CPI) leader who leads another Mafia faction.

Hunger Strike: The day after his arrest, Suraj Deo’s supporters launched a relay hunger strike in the centre of the town. On July 31, his lawyers filed a writ petition in the Ranchi High Court praying for his release. Says Brara: “The Crime Control Act (CCA), 1980, provides for arrest or externment of criminals. Over 109 proceedings are pending in this district alone, and we have externed only 39 persons. The leading Mafia dons obtained a stay order from the Supreme Court after their lawyers contended that there was a technical flaw in the CCA.”

Dhanbad’s law-keepers have encountered immense obstacles in their attempts to rein in the booming Mafia underworld. The second largest gang in the town is supposed to be led, for instance, by Satya Dev Singh, who happens to be chairman of the Zilla Parishad. Satya Dev’s brother Shankar Dayal Singh is Bihar’s rural development minister. PWD and Industry Minister Yogeshwar Kumar Yogesh is alleged to be backing another Mafia gang. Satya Dev Singh has seven cases pending against him, including one warrant under Section 307 of the Indian Penal Code (attempted murder). In-1976, during the Emergency. Jagannath Mishra’s government withdrew some key cases pending against Satya Dev. Since he and other gang leaders have been careful not to commit overt offences during the last six months. the NSA cannot be used.

“The NSA is hardly the harsh law it is made out to be,” complains Brara. “Within five days of a détenu’s arrest, we have to give grounds for our action. Within 12 days, the Government has to give its approval. And within three weeks, the Advisory Board has to meet to inspect the case.” On September 6. the NSA Advisory Board met in Patna and approved Suraj Deo’s continuing detention. No détenu, says Brara, has remained in jail under the NSA for more than three months.

The kind of power wielded by Dhanbad’s Mafia dons was demonstrated by the protests that have followed Suraj Deo’s arrest. Two weeks after a bandh crippled the town, Janata Party chief Chandra Shekhar went to Dhanbad to address meetings pro- testing Suraj Deo’s detention. Suraj Deo has become the financial mainstay of the pre- dominantly Rajput party; his lieutenant, S A.K. Jha, is general secretary of the Dhanbad District Janata Party. Chandra Shekhar reportedly warned Kedar Pandey that there might be violence soon if Suraj n Deo was not released.