Shuprobhat sir. Apni kemun achen. Amar naam Amitava Bondopadhyay.
My apologies, sir. I forgot you don’t speak Bangla. Good morning sir. I hope you are having a good day. I am Amitava Bondopadhyay. I live in a small town in West Bengal named Bankura. I am 46 years old and work with the government as a Section officer handling all land-related cases. I have a small family. My wife, Chaitali Bondopadhyay, is six years younger. I have two children. My son is ten years old, my daughter is 7, and my mother is 66 years old. I am the only working member of the family. Though I do not earn much, my life is comfortable, sir. I get up early morning and do some light exercise for about 20 minutes. Post my exercise; I read books while listening to Rabindra Sangeet. After I have finished my reading, I meditate for half an hour. Once I am done with that, my entire day is dedicated to my family. I wake up the children and prepare them for school while my wife cooks food for everybody. I spend some 20 minutes with my mother and then get ready for the office and hug my wife goodbye for the day.
The office is quite hectic. You see, government offices in India have two kinds of people. Those who work and those who do not. I fall under the first category. Therefore I am always loaded with work. I return from the office in the evening and divide my time between my wife, mother, and children. As I said, life is good and comfortable. It is not something very fancy, but it is comfortable. We are A FAMILY like any other family in Bankura.
But all of that changed one day, sir.
Agriculture is the primary occupation of 90% of the people of Bankura. Of the remaining 10%, half are employed by the government, and the other half are in other kinds of trade. Almost everybody working in the government owns a piece of agricultural land they let out for farming. I also own a small piece of land, sir. My father owned vast areas of land in Bankura. After he died, all his land was passed on to me. But I was never a farmer. So I sold most of it and bought a piece of land in Kolkata. I built a building with twenty, one BHK houses on the land, and I have let out each one of them for rent. I have kept a small piece of land in Bankura with me as a memory of my father. And just like others, I have also rented it out.
About a year ago, one of West Bengal’s most prominent industrialists, S.K. Das, decided to build a household helping robots manufacturing plant in Bankura. For this, he needed land. All of us got very excited that day, sir. You see, sir, to get this land, he would have to buy it from us. We were all ready to sell the land, sir. He is a good human being. He always prioritizes the benefit of the people of his country over his own. We were very sure to get good money for our lands. The day this news broke, the entire Bankura celebrated, sir.
But it was momentary. Very soon, we got to know that Das had given Amar Burman, the right hand of the local Zamindar of Bankura, the responsibility of consolidating the land. Now, all of us believe in the good intentions of Mr. S.K. Das and this project, sir. In fact, most of us think that the government decided to hand over the land consolidation process to Burman. But, sir, we all know Burman and the local Zamindar are crooks. Burman is just a face that represents the local Zamindar.
Burman has money and power. Almost all the families of Bankura have taken money from him, sir, as a loan to tend to their lands. Farming is difficult, sir. It is pretty labor and capital-intensive. Since the land is fertile, most of them are able to pay back the money on time, but now and then, there is someone who cannot pay the loan, and that is when things go wrong, sir. Once that happens, there is only one option for the farmer; they have to transfer a piece of their land to Burman at dirt cheap prices because if they don’t, he will send his goons to beat the family. And believe me, sir, the goons don’t care for anyone. He eventually gets his way. He has ten murder cases against him, three cases of kidnapping, and two cases of forgery. But these are only those who are able to get through to the police. The actual cases are much higher. The police work hand-in-hand with Burman, sir. So you understand now how we felt when we learned that Burman is handling the land acquisition. We knew he would ensure that our lands are acquired for pennies, sir.
It all started slowly, sir. It would be one file per week, files of farmers with the most significant pieces of land in Bankura. I know what you’re thinking. I am in the revenue department, sir. Every land transfer file in Bankura lands on my table, sir. So I know. The paperwork was impeccable, with the owner’s consent in place. But one thing that stuck out was that the price of the land was just 1/30th of the minimum market price. It was crystal clear. Burman intended to buy these lands for pennies and sell them to Das for a fortune.
Sir, I am not the kind who would keep silent. If I see something wrong, I raise my voice. So I raised objections to every file that came to my table. I highlighted that the price at which the land was being sold was significantly less. On every objection, my reporting managers would question the basis of my complaint. They would highlight that the paperwork and owner’s consent was in place. I was forced to take away my objections.
Then the number of files landing on my table increased to as many as ten files a day. The strategy was clear. They would start with the larger pieces of land, moving on to the smaller portions. Sir, I do not want you to think badly of me. I did my best to stop all this. I even spoke to the landowners to reconfirm their consent, and all of them agreed to giving consent. But I knew, in my heart, that they were being forced to provide consent, I could see it in their eyes. But everything was so impeccable I could not investigate anything.
Then one day, I was shocked to read a file that landed on my table. The file, as usual, was impeccable, with the landowner’s approval in place. The only problem with this file was that it was my land, and I had not signed any such document. As usual, as the first step, I raised an objection to the file.
About two days after I raised my objection to the file, my senior called me to his cabin. At first, he ordered me to take back my complaint. When I reminded him that, in this case, I am also the land owner, he changed his approach. He reminded me how Burman was a really bad man and always got what he wanted. That I have a family and should think about them. He asked me to take two days off and think about it calmly. After 2 days, he summoned me to his cabin again and asked me for my final decision. However, this time he kept 5 lakh rupees on the table as a bribe. When I reminded him that my land costs much more than this, he told me that all the land in Bankura now belongs to the Zamindar and I am the only one in between him and the plant. He strongly suggested that I take this money and let the file go through and that if I did not, he, my senior, would not be able to help me in any which way. That day, sir, I went home and told everything to my family. My love and respect for them doubled that day, sir. Each member of my family told me to stand against this goon and that they were in this with me.
The next day in the morning, when I went to get groceries, I was attacked by ten men. They beat me mercilessly and broke 2 ribs and my writing hand. They said that if this hand stands between the Zamindar and the land, then the hand should not exist. They then threatened me to take the objection away. Obviously, sir, everybody at home got very scared when they saw me limping back to the house. We rushed to the hospital, but they would not treat me. Even the private doctors refused to let me in their clinic. Thanks to one of my friends who was a doctor, I got treatment, sir. The same day we went to the police to register a complaint, they outrightly refused and instead asked us to allow Burman to take the land. He had control over everything in Bankura, sir. Disheartened when we came back, my mother told me one thing sir. She told me that if I gave in to Burman, I would lose all respect in her eyes.
The next day my wounds were paining a lot. My wife refused to leave my side, so I requested my mother to drop the children off at school. About twenty minutes later, our neighbor came running to my house. Aghast and panting, he told us that some people had forcibly taken my children and that in an attempt to save them, my mother had fallen on the road and had gone unconscious. My wife and I froze in horror. The neighbor had to shake us to bring us back to our senses. He called his wife to take care of my wife, as she was in shock. She was not moving at all, sir. I was broken too, sir, not just physically but mentally as well. I had been beaten black and blue, my children had been abducted, my mother lay unconscious on the road, and my wife was in shock.
My neighbors drove me to the place where my mother was. From the back seat of his scooter, I could see a crowd. In the center of the mass was my mother lying on the footpath. Blood coming out of her forehead. The moment I saw her, the floodgates opened up. I wailed to see my mother like this, sir. Tears rolling down, I picked her up and took the auto that someone from the crowd offered. Since no hospital would admit her, we went to the hospital in the next district, which was about 3 hours away. Thankfully they admitted her. However, I still do not know where my children are, sir.
It has been 10 days, sir. The police have still not recorded an FIR. Our children are still missing. My relatives from Kolkata are taking care of my mother. My wife has gone into severe depression. I do not know what to do, sir. I have reached out to you as a last desperate measure. Please help me, sir. Please help me find my children.
Welcome to News India, I am Rajesh Mohanty, and today we bring you the big news from Bankura, West Bengal, where the children of Mr. Amitava Bandopadhyay, aged 10 and 7, have been allegedly kidnapped by the right hand of the local Zamindar, Amar Burman, while they were waiting to board the school bus along with their grandmother. As per the eyewitnesses, about 7 to 8 goons forcefully kidnapped the children in their car while pushing their grandmother aside. The 66-year-old lady is said to have suffered a head injury and is in a coma. She is getting treatment in a Kolkata hospital as no hospital in Bankura was ready to admit her. On condition of anonymity, one of the staff members of the Bankura hospital revealed that the hospital and all other doctors in Bankura had received threats from Amar Burman instructing them not to admit anyone from Mr. Bandopadhyay’s family. It is alleged that Amar Burman has been trying to acquire land for Mr. S.K. Das to build their household robot help plant in Bankura.
News Nation has access to files that show that Mr. Bandyopadhyay, who works as a section officer in the revenue department, had raised issues multiple times in the past in the manner in which Amar Burman had acquired agricultural land at 1/30th the market price.
As per the records, all the land in Bankura, except for the one owned by Mr. Bandopadhyay, is presently owned by Burman. As per the file, which News India has access to, Mr. Bandopadhyay had provided consent for the land transfer. However, Mr. Bandopadhyay, in a letter to News India, has alleged he was being tortured, and his kids were kidnapped because he was not providing consent to the land transfer. The letter goes on to allege that he was bribed by senior land revenue officials to give consent and that the police had categorically denied registering any FIR, let alone taking any action, against Amar Burman.
All of this raises serious questions about the intent of Mr. Das’ plant and raises severe doubts about the methods adopted by the local government to acquire land. Is anybody listening, or is it jungle raj?
Rajesh, I am in Bankura village, and as you can see behind me, thousands of people from Bankura and the main opposition party have gathered here. They are searching for Mr. Bandopadhyay’s missing children. After the news of Mr. Bandopadhyay’s children’s abduction broke out, the leader of the opposition party picked up on this issue and has constantly been putting pressure on the government. He had also visited Mr. Bandopadhyay at his residence yesterday. Late last night, he decided that since the government and police had not been able to track the kids even after 3 weeks, he and his party workers would find the children themselves. The crowd behind me has gathered in search of the children. The public has gheraoed Amar Burman’s house, and the leader of the opposition party has entered the house to hold conversa…..Rajesh, there is news that Mr. Bandopadhyay’s children have been found in the basement of Amar Burman’s house.
Welcome to another edition of News India. I am Rajesh Mohanty, and today we have some great news to share with all of you. Ten days after Mr. Bandopadhyay’s children were found in Amar Burman’s basement, the government has sprung into action. It has suspended the local SP and the health secretary over lapses of duty. The government has also canceled the deal with Mr. S.K. Das and has decided to return the already acquired land to all the land owners. The local Zamindar has been arrested, and cases have been filed against him and other government officials.
Mr. Bandopadhyay’s mother, who was in a coma till three days back, has woken up from the coma.
The mood in the locality of Mr. Bandopdhyay is celebratory. Our correspondent spoke to the local people, and apart from being happy that their lands, which were forcibly taken, have been returned, all of them have been thanking Mr. Bandopadhyay and his family for standing up for them. Mr. Bandopadhyay and his family at present are hailed as a hero, with different organizations felicitating him and his family. The government has decided to open a hospital under their family surname. Indeed it is a story of bravery, strength, and grit. A story of how a family from Bankura became THE FAMILY of Bankura.
