House Of Flying Cots

On January 20, 2017, the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA), the Indian government바카라�s regulatory body for adoptions, sent a letter to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), the West Bengal police바카라�s detective department. The letter said that certain 바카라�irregularities바카라� pertaining to a Darjeeling-based destitute women바카라�s shelter and children바카라�s home had come to the notice of CARA, and it urged the Bengal sleuths to initiate a probe. Acc­ording to sources, CARA바카라�s suspicions were raised when it found that a number of backdated adoption registration forms were being hurrie­dly uploaded on to its website in a short span of time. CARA바카라�s cyber-crime wing traced it back to a server in the Darjeeling-Jalpaiguri area in north Bengal.

Between the letter바카라�s arrival and Feb­ruary 19, when, after a month-long inv­estigation, the Bengal detectives made their first arrest바카라�of the owner of the shelter and home, Chandana Chakr­ab­orty바카라�an unusual meeting took place at the residence of the general secretary of the district BJP women바카라�s wing, Juhi Chowdhury. The January 25 meeting was between Juhi and Chandana, who, it has since emerged, had alleged links with local Trinamool Congress leaders.

The meeting gains salience because Cha­ndana claimed during interrogation that actually it was Juhi who was the kingpin of the adoption racket. Still, the meeting of the two unknown local operators in north Bengal would perhaps have remained a footnote in the CID바카라�s probe report had the names of two top BJP leaders바카라�Rajya Sabha member Roopa Ganguly and Kailash Vijay­vargiya바카라�not been dropped by Chandana. CID officials, speaking to Outlook, confirm that Chandana, during questioning, stated that she was taken to Calcutta and New Delhi by Juhi to meet the lea­ders after January 20 (when, after rec­eiving CARA바카라�s letter, the CID began to act in earnest) to get 바카라�clearances바카라� for the orphanage, from where babies were all­egedly sold to childless couples in India and abroad. Her allegations raise the question of the BJP leaders바카라� complicity in the child-trafficking scam. And, equ­ally, that of even deeper intrigue.

In an interview to Outlook, Nishant Pervez, CID바카라�s DIG (Operations), dismis­ses allegations of political interference laid by those who have been named. 바카라�Our arrests are made on the basis of our probe and interrogation of those arrested. We are not guided by poli­tical considerations. Some names reve­aled by the accused happen to be those of politicians. If req­uired, we will call them for questioning too,바카라� he states. Asked specifically if Roopa Ganguly and Vijayvargiya would be questioned, Pervez reiterated his stand.

But Roopa insists such an allegation is 바카라�exactly what the Trina­mool wants to raise to divert attention from the chit fund scam, in which its leaders are implicated바카라�. Talking to Outlook, she offers a detailed counter-narrative. 바카라�Juhi was used in order to frame me. She is young, only 28, and too innocent to know that she was being used.바카라� The film star-turned-politician says Chandana sent Juhi 바카라�repeated text messages바카라�, seeking help with her NGO, which she claimed was going through a bad financial patch. Juhi was even told that as the dist­rict general secretary of a national party바카라�s women바카라�s wing, it was her duty to help a shelter for women and children, according to Roopa.

The MP바카라�s version relies on Juhi herself being an unwitting, innocent interloper in the drama. 바카라�If you see the timing of her first meeting with Chandana (Jan 25), it was dire­ctly after the probe aga­inst her began. Juhi was alw­ays ready to help people and it doesn바카라�t occur to her to find out who she helps. She may have been pressu­rised by Chan­dana for mee­­tings with leaders and sought it from us without knowing what the NGO was up to.... she had too much faith in people. She was framed. The state government is using her through the CID to try to get to me.바카라�

Juhi, who absconded soon after Chandana바카라�s arrest, was tracked down and arrested by the police from a relative바카라�s house in Kharibari, in Darjeeling district, near the Nepal border, on February 28.

Through the predictable thi­cket of all­egations and cou­­­­nter-­­allegations, one indisputable fact eme­rges: the women바카라�s shelter and the children바카라�s home owned by Chandana Chakraborty were used to run a nefarious trafficking racket.

A narrow gully in a careworn Jalpaiguri neighbourhood called Kerani Para, lined on either side by fetid, open drains and infested with mosquitoes, hits a dead end where stands a three-storey house, the ground floor of which was used by Chandana Chakraborty for her 바카라�NGO바카라� work. 바카라�The children were cramped into that tiny room,바카라� a neighbour, Rana Bha­ttacharjee, who owns a shop nearby, tells Outlook, pointing to a high, slit window covered with a net. 바카라�Chandana lived on the top floor with her husband, Jibon, an employee of the PWD in Jalpaiguri. While he is a quiet, polite gentleman, his wife was the opposite바카라�quarrelsome and given to throwing her weight around. They have lived here for 20 years, but it was only since the last 10 to 12 years that we started noticing children being brought in and people entering the house at odd hours and even staying over.바카라� Rana says that at times, Chandana would bring out a child or two바카라�of different ages, and invariably emaciated바카라�for a stroll. 바카라�She explained that they were given up for adoption by the poor, or born to unwed mothers, or were abandoned. There was even a foreigner child, white-skinned with blue eyes.바카라� Rana says that when Chandana opened the 바카라�adoption agency바카라�, he had gone to her with his sister, who was childless and wanted to adopt a baby. 바카라�It was around 2006. We even bought a form from Chandana for Rs 1,200. But something seemed wrong. She kept haggling with us about money. We instead went to the Missionaries of Charity.바카라�

Rana informs Outlook that he noticed no signs of Chandana바카라�s avowed TMC links. According to other locals, it was her rival factions in the party who tipped off the police detectives about her activities. 바카라�We are proud to belong to the Trinamool. It is people like her who ruin our party바카라�s name,바카라� says a local youth.

The CID has found evidence of illegal sale of over 70 children in the past decade. Chandana and her accomplices would allegedly trace poor pregnant women and take them to Ashray, the home for destitute women run by her. The women, after delivery, would be told their babies were stillborn. Forged documents would be made, and the inf­ants spirited away to Bimala Sishugriha, the orphanage. In raids on these places, the police have recovered documents that show names of possible adopters and the names and photographs of children alloted to them. The shelter and the orph­anage used to be run by Chandana바카라�s NGO바카라�North Bengal People바카라�s Deve­lopment Centre.

Juhi바카라�s lawyer, Akhil Biswas, tells Out­look that her defence is built around the premise that she was framed. 바카라�There is definitely a political angle,바카라� he says. 바카라�Cha­ndana has links with the Trinamool. Her brother is a party worker and is seen with important leaders at rallies. We have enough evidence to suggest that Chan­dana herself was used as a bait. Even if TMC is not directly associated with the racket, its leaders could see in the scam an opportunity to implicate the BJP. Juhi, being the local BJP general secretary of the Mahila Morcha, is the softest target.바카라�

At Juhi바카라�s Jalpaiguri house, her mot­her, aunt and sister are listless. 바카라�Juhi takes after her father and has follo­wed in his footsteps to join politics. When I was unhappy with his decision to join politics, he told me, 바카라�Politics doesn바카라�t always have to be dirty.바카라� He has inculcated these values in my daughters too and Juhi always went out of her way to help people. Ours has been a well-respected family, now our reputation is tarnished.  I know Juhi can바카라�t be associated with such a heinous crime,바카라� her mother says. Her sister rushes in with a copy of a degree from the University of California in Berkeley, where Juhi was selected to study as an exchange student.

Whether the family narrative will be borne out is not clear yet. A CID official tells Outlook, 바카라�We are not overruling the possibility that she may have been framed. Chandana is a very shrewd player, extr­emely manipulative.바카라�

However, other CID officials point out that Juhi바카라�s being on the run does not help her case. 바카라�We had to track her down to the Nepal border. She may have been advised to go on the run when Chandana named her.... Whoever advised Juhi to flee to Nepal also considered the possibility that if central authorities were approached for permission to arrest her바카라�essential for arresting an Indian in a foreign country바카라�Juhi would come to know through her sources and hide. Whether or not she was involved in the trafficking racket is another matter.바카라�

Juhi바카라�s lawyer argues that if she was not at her home or even in the country, it does not legally imply that she was abs­conding. 바카라�The CID or police did not leave a summons for her. She is a political figure and moves around a lot. She could only be declared absconding if she was contemptuous of a court or pol­ice summons, which she was not doing.바카라�

Political parties have been quick to distance themselves from the child trafficking scam. The BJP has removed Juhi from the post of district general secretary of the Mahila Morcha. Two of the seven arrested were part of the district administrations of Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri (Moloy Ghosh and Sasmita Ghosh, who were both in charge of child welfare dep­artments in their respective districts, and were supposed to scrutinise activities of all homes and orphanages). This, according to the CID, is a mark of their 바카라�politically neutral, decidedly impartial바카라� investigation. A district magistrate was also transferred and demoted.

In the meantime, the families of those arrested wait around the CID camp office at Siliguri바카라�s Pintel village바카라�where the acc­used in custody are brought at regular intervals for interrogation바카라�for a chance to meet them. 바카라�I cannot imagine that he would do that,바카라� says the distraught wife of the doctor who was arrested for allegedly issuing false birth certificates for a cut, among other allegations. She has brought a bag full of freshly-washed shirts and home-cooked food for him. 바카라�He is not a criminal. We have a 15-year-old daughter and she is completely shattered. I work at a reputed company. Our family바카라�s reputation is completely destr­oyed,바카라� she says, holding back tears.

바카라�After years of investigating crime,바카라� a veteran CID official tells Outlook, 바카라�it is my observation that almost 99 per cent of crime is not committed by hardened criminals, but by ordinary people who cross that imaginary line called conscience.바카라� To many, it would seem that this is one commodity still at large in this sordid affair.

By Dola Mitra in Calcutta