Kolkata: Days after one of the biggest narcotics busts in the country, in which the Indian Coast Guard seized heroin worth Rs 3,500 crore off the Gujarat coast, News18 visits the family of the mastermind and the main accused, Suprit Tiwary, in Kolkata’s Entally area.
Holed up in a dingy lane on Girish Chandra Bose Road in north Kolkata, Tiwary’s wife is seen nursing her 4-day-old baby, clueless of her husband’s fate, who was the Captain of MV Hennery, the ship that was trying to offload the drugs to sell them in India.
The family here is in shock as the police have now picked up Suprit’s younger brother Sujit. The hapless mother of the two, Bimala, doesn’t know what to do next, while the neighbours relentlessly gossip about a drug racket being run from this house.
“Sir, please help us, we are devastated. I was just discharged from the hospital with my newborn on Wednesday and don’t know what to do now. My husband was ambitious but I am confident that he is being dragged into this mess. I would like to request to all investigating agencies to do justice to my husband. I beg for justice,” an inconsolable Priti, Suprit’s wife, told News18.
“I have given birth to Maa Durga and I am sure she will bring her father home soon,” she says.
With only a small room and an attached bathroom in a shanty, the Tiwarys were living with the hope that their elder son Suprit will make it big in life and give them a comfortable life. Now, their neighbours are heard whispering some about Suprit’s terror links.
Suprit’s Panama-registered ship, MV Hennery, was seized on July 30 after three days of tracking intelligence inputs. Eight crew members all — Indians — have also been taken into custody and a total of 1,500 kg of heroin was recovered from the merchant vessel. A day after, his brother Sujit was also detained in Kolkata. News18 was first to break the Kolkata connection of the drug haul.
‘Take Care of My Baby, Will Come Soon’
In a brief phone call in June, Suprit told Priti that he would be back by August to celebrate their daughter’s birth.
“He was planning a celebration for the baby and was supposed to come home in the first week of August. Later, we came to know that he was arrested in the drug case. We only got to know after they (police) took my younger son Sujit,” Suprit’s mother Bimala said.
She said, “They promised to release my younger son after three days and we are praying for his early return. My husband Acchbarnath Tiwari is an employee of the West Bengal Transport Corporation (WBTC) and he is not keeping well. My entire family is in disarray. My sons are innocent and I am sure they will return soon.”
Tracking MV Hennery
Various intelligence agencies were keeping a close surveillance on Suprit since May 21, 2017 after a Saharanpur resident, Praveen Kumar disclosed Suprit’s role in the international drug racket.
Praveen was arrested on May 21 from the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport for carrying fake Continuous Discharge Certificate (CDC) which is also known as Seaman Service Book (SSB). He was about to leave for Iran via Sharjah on an Air Arabia flight as a seaman with Panama CDC issued on December 12, 2016, from Manila valid until December 12, 2021.
However, during scrutiny it was found that the CDC he was carrying was fake. Kumar broke down during interrogation and revealed that he got the CDC from Suprit Tiwari, a captain based on Kolkata.
The Indian Coast Guard further received inputs that Suprit is trying to smuggle heroin worth crores into India through Gujarat.
Investigations revealed that the consignment was supposed to be offloaded in Egypt. However, Suprit changed his mind and thought of selling the contraband in India to earn in crores.
He made a few calls to his friends in Mumbai (Vishal and Irfan) and his younger brother Sujit in Kolkata through a satellite phone. They discussed a plan to off-load the drugs at Gujarat’s Alang port.
The conversation was intercepted by security agencies and Suprit was nabbed along with seven other crew members on July 30. A Gujarat ATS team was sent to Mumbai and Kolkata and all the accused were detained from Mumbai and Kolkata. The other crew members who were arrested are: Manish Patel, Mohsin, Sanjay Yadav, Dinesh Kumar, Divesh Kumar, Vinay Yadav and Anurag Sharma.
Kolkata Cop Posed as Mason to Catch Suprit’s Brother
Soon after Suprit and other crew members were cornered mid sea by the Coast Guard, Gujarat police alerted their counterpart in Kolkata and shared information about Sujit and the Anti-Rowdy Section (ARS) of Kolkata police formed a team of 16 officers and one of them was sent to Entally disguised as a mason.
The officer confirmed information about the Tiwary family from their neighbours and local vendors and later came back with more personnel at night. Before the residents could sense anything, Sujit was whisked away to Lalbazar police headquarters.
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