Too much ado over INFORMATION - Sometimes, Informers Hide Much More Than They Reveal

Mateen Hafeez | TNN

It was perhaps a first-ofits-kind press conference held by police informers at Nagpada, the birthplace of Mumbai’s underworld. On a bright sunny day in 2009, an SMS floated among crime reporters informing them of a press conference called by police informers, to ‘reveal’ the murderers of their mentor.



Around 100 journalists from the print, electronic and web media descended upon a dingy, overcrowded and congested chawl, curious to find out if the nameless, faceless informers would finally blow their cover. But the curiosity was short-lived. The informers did arrive, their faces covered by hoods or handkerchiefs.

“The Dawood Ibrahim gang is behind this murder,” said one into the microphone. We were shocked, as he made the statement just 500 metres from where Dawood’s sister, Haseena Parkar, stayed. “He (Dawood) had plotted this murder since we were after his gang,’’ the informer added in a speech scripted from a Bollywood blockbuster. The informer claimed how his clan endangered their lives to serve the country. Unlike a common man’s life, their lives were shrouded in secrecy. And he signed off ominously: “We know our lives are in danger but if the police don’t act immediately against the person we suspect, around 300 informers in the city will go on strike.”

Soon after the “press conference” was over, an informer, whom I knew for a couple of years, offered me a cup of tea. Finally, I thought, here was a perfect chance to get the real story, and accepted his offer readily. In his late 20s, the informer is an Arts graduate from a reputed college and is associated with several small-time politicians. He took me to a restaurant. A group of half-a-dozen informers were already there, the first time I saw them up close, their faces uncovered. “Janab, yeh apne patrakar dost hain,’’ he introduced me to them.

Meanwhile, a Chevrolet followed by a Honda City and two Taveras appeared near the restaurant. The informer who got down from the Chevrolet went by the code of Black Zero, named after an adventure novel character. Black Zero looked at me and exclaimed, “Arre bhai, it’s been ages since I saw you. Where are you nowadays?” he asked while pulling up a chair.

Black Zero’s association with the police went back to over a decade. First, he was arrested for assaulting his classmate in college. Later, he befriended policemen and helped them in several raids. Dressed in a crisp, white shirt and blue jeans, Black Zero sported Ray Ban glasses, a diamond studded wrist watch and Nike shoes. “So did you convey everything to the media what we discussed earlier?” he asked one of the informers while lighting up a cigarette. “I want those crooks behind bars. I am still alive. I won’t sit quietly until the murderers are arrested,” he added dramatically.

I was getting closer to my story, or so I believed. “Last week, the Dawood gang attacked one of our colleagues but the police is not doing anything as they get their hafta from the gang,’’ he said while his cronies nodded their heads in unison.

“Bhai, a businessman is creating trouble over a property dispute. He was long ago associated with a gangster’s brother-in-law. Can we ask our ‘contacts’ (policemen) to summon him for questioning,’’ one informer asked Black Zero. “How much cut we can get?” a young informer asked agitatedly. “I will talk to senior officers,” said Black Zero. “The Lal Topis (another group of informers) in Grant Road had given a tip-off, settled an issue with the police and also took lots of money from the suspect. Can’t we rake up this issue in the media?’’ he looked askance at me. No, I told him, growing impatient about when the real ‘information’ I was waiting for would come.

But the conversation instead turned to how a senior cop was ‘meherbaan’ over a rival group of informers. “They are making money and the hafta is going right up to the top. We will have to do something to divert that officer’s attention,’’ Black Zero said.

Realising that I had to find a way out of the circus, I made an excuse to slip out and return to office. The press conference, I realised, was more a show of strength by the informers to pressurise the police into action, than for giving any real information about the killer’s identity.

The Times of India, January 11, 2010