By Zaidul Haque, TwoCircles.net,
Kolkata/Burdwan: After Khagragarh blast in Burdwan on October 2, the name of Haji Hassan Chowdhury, the owner of the house where blast occurred, suddenly came on to limelight. In an exclusive interview, Chowdhury, whose family has been hounded by the media, says more than the police, he is scared of the media now.
A non-descript two-storied house in Khagragarh, a suburb of Burdwan – 120 kms from Kolkata – witnessed an explosion on October 2, 2014, which killed two persons and injured another. Police claimed to have seized dozens of improvised explosive devices (IEDs), other explosives and SIM cards. What was initially believed to be an ‘accidental’ blast, has since then been linked to the larger terror module of Bangladesh based banned groups.
Hassan Chowdhury, owner of the building in Khagragarh, Burdwan where ‘accidental blast’ took place on October 2.
A respectable person in the locality, Chowdhury says that his family has been maligned by irresponsible media trial, while expressing innocence in the blast case and the alleged conspiracy. He is, however, happy that the locals did not trust the media and expressed their trust in him and his family due to his reputation.
On October 11, when TCN team had visited Burdwan, Haji Hassan Chowdhury, a retired from state-owned power department, was still in police detention. However, locals with whom TCN had spoken vouched for his innocence. A middle-aged Shamoli Das talked of his “good behaviour” and how his son, a doctor, would often attend to poor even when they didn’t have money.
As Chowdhury was the owner of the house and lived in another on the opposite side of the street, he was called by the police one same day and was later taken into detention.
Chowdhury told TCN that when he heard the loud sound that fateful morning, he along with his family rushed from the house. Soon many neighbours gathered. They saw rings of smoke flowing from the window. He says, he did not go inside the flat where explosion occurred, but did saw police coming and dead bodies and injured persons being carried away.
House of the landlord Hassan Chowdhury at Khagragarh in Burdwan.
Soon SHO of the Burdwan Police station Abdul Gaffar spoke to him, and asked him to come to the police station.
Hassan met the Police super in Burdwan on the same day. He was asked to stay for interrogation, and was consequently detained till October 14 inside the police station. Hassan told TCN that the police behaved well with him, and let him sleep on a bench. He was also allowed food from home and clothing.
More than the police, however, what frightened Hassan more was the way media began a sort of trial hours after the blast, which continued for weeks as his entire family was hounded. He said that even before he went to the police station leading Bengali news channels like ABP Ananda, 24 Ghanta, E-TV News, Bangla Live, etc started broadcasting `exclusive News’ in front of his home, adding that the owner of the house has huge amount of money and may even have terror links.
As the National Investigation Agency (NIA) took over the case, sleuths repeatedly asked him why he had rented the place to the terror suspects and did he know them from before.
Hassan said that he rented out the flat in good faith and had no knowledge of their alleged terror links. He said that the NIA officers sought more details about his family background, and when he answered them clearly, they looked satisfied.
Hassan said that he had rented the flat to Shakil Ahmed on monthly rent of Rs 4200 and they were staying with their wives and hence he had no reason to suspect them.
A native of village Mirpur, under Jamalpur police station in Burdwan district, Hassan did diploma in engineering. He worked in the Water Resource Development Directorate of Government of West Bengal and bought pieces of land and built two houses in Khagragarh, Burdwan, where he moved in 1992. He retired in 2002 and went for hajj in 2010.
His son Dr Ashraf Ali Chowdhury is a homeopathy doctor and has his chamber on the ground floor of the house, where the blast occurred, opposite their residence. He has four grandchildren, of whom one has already completed MBBS, while other is studying medicine. His two younger grand-daughters are studying in high school in Kolkata.
The two storied house where the ‘accidental’ explosion occurred on October 2. Also shows the chamber of Dr Ashraf Ali Chowdhury.
During the 14 days interrogation, NIA asked him to call few local persons who knew him. Finally on the night of October 15, he was released. Meanwhile, his wife had fallen sick and was admitted in a hospital. He brought his wife home the next day, on October 16.
NIA asked him to come for questioning whenever they call him. He says that the last time, they called him on October 29 to identify the body of Shakil Ahmed who was killed in blast.
He said that when the NIA team visited the blast site, they even visited their home and his son’s chamber. Hassan said that the NIA took away his son’s laptop, which they have not returned yet. He said that the laptop contains nothing incriminating except materials related to homeopathy or personal stuff.
He said that his association with politics has been minimal and yet he was overnight declared a TMC leader, a terror suspect and his house and Khagragarh was made ‘terror hub’. He is hopeful that the truth will soon come out and he would be given ‘clean chit’ as he has not done anything wrong.
A worried old man, Hassan believes he will have to live with the taint all his life, as he adds, “Terrorism and media terrorism is the same for me.”
TCN Special Series: Burdwan Blast and After