The bomb-makers of Bengal tell all..... ‘I can make a bomb in 5 minutes; with help, 2,000 in a day’

Debjyoti Chakraborty and Ravik Bhattacharya, 7 May 2016, Kolkata: Bombs kill, very often their own makers. Most cases of blasts where the tolls are high are accidents at make-shift factories. Nobody is bothered; the makers come cheap from Bengal’s impoverished rural areas.
May 8, 2015: Twelve people — many of them teens, killed in West Midnapore while making crude bombs for a political boss. The blast was so powerful that the house was in shreds and body parts were found hanging on trees nearly 100 metres away. 
October 13, 2015: Two people killed and one injured in a village in Murshidabad during panchayat byelections. C Sudhakar, police chief, said they were making crude bombs in their home.
January 22, 2016: Two people killed in a blast at a Trinamool leader’s house in Birbhum. They were brothers of a local Trinamool leader. The blast brought down parts of the brick-and-mortar building.
March 8, 2016: Three people were killed and two injured while making crude bombs in Murshidabad.
April 21, 2016: A CPI(M) polling agent was killed in Murshidabad during third phase of elections.
May 2, 2016: At least four people died and six were injured in a blast while making bombs in Malda district. Later, two policemen died while trying to remove the stockpile.Master makers are much sought after by both politicians and dons and their services are available in almost all the districts of the state. 
KOLKATA/BIRBHUM: “Don’t get so worked up about bombs. It’s part of our heritage and culture, like rosogolla, Rabindranath, Netaji and ilish maachh.” That was Anubrata Mondal, aka Keshtoda, the most talked about fighter-bomber and Birbhum district chief of Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress.

Mondal, in a way, is right. While other elements of Bengal’s history — both recent and not-so-recent — have been discussed, bragged about and showcased to the point of boredom, the bomb has always been a loosely guarded secret. It protects Bengal’s darkest secret — violent, mean and shallow politics.

In fact, since the first awakening of nationalism during the Raj in the latter half of the 19th century, bombs became the main weapon. But later, it lost the lofty cause and became simply a tool to capture and retain power. With splinters, they are lethal. Without them, they are scary. 
The Naxalite movement of the 1970s — essentially a guerrilla uprising in Bengal — also relied on the power of bombs. One of the party members, a Chemistry professor in a Calcutta college, even taught his students to make the Molotov cocktail, a petrol bomb named after Russian communist leader Vycheslav Molotov and favoured by the Bolsheviks.

During each regime in Bengal, the strength to grab and stay in power came not from the barrel of the gun, but from the splinters of the bomb. Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at an election rally, “The only industry worth talking about in Bengal is that of making bombs.” 
Why do political activists always favour bombs? Simple. Besides being cheap and easy to make and handle, one can get master bomb-makers in almost every district of Bengal. Reason: Grinding poverty.

Mondal said the most daring bombmakers come from the bordering district of Murshidabad. “Give them ` 10,000, and they will do anything you want. They’re so poor that that much money is almost like a dream.” Even children are employed in bomb making, since they have nimbler fingers and nagging hunger to take care of.

Mondal’s own district, Birbhum, however, emerged as the main flash-point in the 2016 assembly elections. An HT team scoured the districts just before and during the elections to find and meet the master bomb-makers, who make democracy tick in Bengal.

The team first went to a swanky office of a land developer, Ramesh (name changed), in Behala in the southern suburbs of Kolkata. Sitting in his uncomfortably cold office, the 47-year-old looked like any other small businessman. But a closer look revealed that the computer terminal in front of him is actually a CCTV screen, with six picture windows, which he monitors through the day.

An alleged extortionist who claims to have started out as an angry young man, Ramesh is back after spending almost 11 years behind the bars. Asked about the charges against him, he only mumbles, “They were only some ‘half ’ murders.”

Although he denies his involvement in the bomb-making industry, Ramesh said, “There are areas where it provides employment to both men and women. But they all have an ustad (master), who trains and engages them.”

Bhola (name changed), Ramesh’s crony-cum-bodyguard, explained the most traditional bombs were the ‘lalshada petos’. The name comes from the colours of potassium nitrate and sulphur — the chemical ingredients for making crude bombs.

Bhola doesn’t know the names of the chemicals, but he can guarantee the havoc they can wreak when combined with ball-bearings, nails and shards of glass and wrapped in simple jute strings. “The tighter the binding, the better the bomb. The splinters act like bullets when the bomb bursts. There are stingless varieties, too, to scare away people.”

He said, “During polls, bombs are better because they can hit a large number of people at one go. One bullet can get you only one body at a time and draw unnecessary attention.”

Mohammad Islam, a Birbhum-based master, said, “In rural areas, if you want to storm an opposition village, you need bombs. If you want to defend your village, you need bombs. For instance, in Nanoor area of Birbhum, where the ruling party factions have been fighting a bloody battle every day since 2011, every village has stockpiles of bombs. They need them to survive and protect their land.”

The prices, although a little prohibitive, are always paid in hard cash. While bombs costs 500 a piece in urban areas, the rural customers can get them for 200 a piece. The lethal ones may cost around ` 1,000 a piece.

Ramesh said, “Both makers and buyers are part of the system.” And that’s the reason why no one is ever arrested for making bombs. Sometimes, police arrest the masters on minor charges. “That’s absolute hogwash. For, the ruling party is always the biggest buyer.”

But how does the industry work? Sometimes, political bosses bring in experts from different areas and a deal is struck. The masters’ fees could be 20,000 to 50,000, depending on the number of bombs to be made.

‘I can make a bomb in 5 minutes; with help, 2,000 in a day’

Surojit Ghosh Hazra, HT, 7 May 2016, Kolkata: After two dozen phone calls, verification, cross-verification and frisking, Ravik Bhattacharya reached Master Rafique, the most famous bomb-maker in a village near Shantiniketan in Birbhum. Excerpts from the conversation: How good are you at making bombs?

I can make one in five minutes. With four to five helpers, I can make around 2,000 pieces a day. Ask any political leader or gangster in Bengal, he will tell you how good I am. I do not want to brag.

Is bomb-making your only profession?

I own five bighas of land. But since I have to feed a family of six, this work comes in handy.

How much do you charge?

It ranges from ` 5,000 to ` 15,000, depending on the number of bombs. If it’s urgent, I even charge ` 10,000 for half a day.

How important you think you are for politicians and goons?

We are treated like VIPs in this season. This time, I told my clients that I need an air-conditioned car for my travel.

How is the demand when there’s no election in sight?

Thanks to TMC’s faction fights, we do good business. For instance, every village in Nanoor got around 1,000 to 1,500 bombs in stock. The CPI(M) and BJP also call us.

Is there a retirement age?

I think I can work till 60-65. You know you have to stop when you no longer have the nerve.

What does your family have to say about this?

Once in, there’s no exit. We don’t want to make our political bosses angry. We have families, sir.