A man once accused in multiple extortion cases and other crimes has filed a complaint after allegedly facing extortion threats from a club in Behala.
With around two dozen cases of extortion, murder and attempted murder cases once against him, Jishu Jain, 47, is now a real estate developer in Behala. He alleged that he received an extortion call for ₹50,000 from the club and filed a complaint with Parnasree police station on Monday.
Jain’s wife Baishakhi, who looks after their family business from their office on Siddhinath Chatterjee Road, told the police that a few men, who live close to one of the sites they are developing on Mahendra Banerjee Road in Parnasree, trespassed on their property on July 4 and threatened the labourers and demanded money, police said.
“The labourers from Murshidabad fled. Yesterday (Monday) I received a call from Joydeep Sarkar who demanded ₹50,000 on behalf of a local club. When I refused, especially when the club was not involved in any major social activity, he started putting pressure on me. I had to seek police help,” Jain told Metro on Tuesday.
A senior officer of Kolkata Police’s south-west division said they have received the complaint and drawn an FIR under sections of extortion, trespassing and criminal intimidation against Sarkar.
Sarkar refuted the charges. “I am the secretary of Amra Kojon club and had requested Jain to pay ₹50,000 for the club’s reservoir and bathroom,” he said.
“Our club is active in helping the poor and the allegations against me as an individual are baseless. I didn’t demand money, rather requested them to help our club after a decision was taken by the club members on Sunday,” Sarkar told Metro.
Jain, who operated in the southern fringes of the city almost two decades ago, had been named in multiple extortion and murder cases.
A senior IPS officer who was then posted as an additional superintendent of police in South 24-Parganas (which then included Behala police station area), recalled how Jain and his aide Barun had opened fire on Arabinda Mandal, a member of a rival group, at a Durga Puja immersion procession on Diamond Harbour Road in 2000.
“Jishu (Jain) came in an auto and opened fire at Arabinda, injuring him,” the officer said. Two years later, Jain was convicted of this attempted murder and sent to jail for 10 years.
A retired officer said Jishu Jain’s name had emerged as the alleged mastermind behind the murder of businessman Mahesh Agarwal in 2002. He was then in jail.
“He (Jain) was suspected to have plotted the murder from inside the jail. An IPS officer, who is now one of the top officers of the Bengal police, had informally visited him in the jail to warn him to stop his activities. After that he mellowed down a bit,” the retired officer recalled.
“I had been falsely implicated in most of the cases. I was acquitted in the majority of the cases in which I was named,” Jain said.
Jain claimed that his life changed after he came out of jail in 2013. “I obtained a building and development license and started the business. I developed some health issues, so my wife started looking after the business,” Jain said.
The couple has a son who is now in Class V.
Sources close to the promoter, however, said Jain seldom steps out of his house fearing attack from his old rivals.