Book Review of Zero Dial: The Dangerous World of Informers by Jyotirmoy Dey (J Dey)
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Zero Dial: The Dangerous World of Informers by Jyotirmoy Dey
is a comprehensive study on the role of police informers in solving complicated
criminal cases. This book is the result of Dey’s long years of working as a
crime reporter for Mid Day. The two books Zero Dial: The Dangerous World of
Informers and Khallas – an A to Z Guide to the Underworld contained something
that provoked the wrath of Chhota Rajan who eventually hired killers to
eliminate the author. But that’s altogether a different story. Informers are known by many names. Khabri, zero dial or simply zero – they all
mean the same thing. Sometimes a don make a circle with his index and thumb. It
means - Watch out! There’s an informer
among us. The informers are often part of the underworld themselves –
gangsters, robbers, thieves or drug-peddlers. Sometimes they are loyal to one
gang, like Ahmad in this book. Sometimes they are loyal to whoever offers a
better price, like Rahim. Their most notable feature is being featureless,
inconspicuous. They blend in with any environment. Sun Tzu had said, “War is all about deception.” The khabris may not have heard about The Art
of War. But they were master-strategists. They are so secretive that often
their wives don’t know about their work.
While penning the acknowledgements for this book, I asked an informer if I could mention his name. He readily agreed, without so much as a second thought. Naturally, having adhered to the code of secrecy all these years, I asked him curiously whether he wasn’t afraid of being exposed. “Saab, nobody knows my real name,” he exclaimed, smiling gleefully.
Zero Dial: The Dangerous World of Informers by J. Dey revolves
around a terror suspect Ryaz Bhatkal who since 2004 had triggered serial bomb
blasts in at least six Indian states. Ahmad an informer arrived at Ani-Terrorism
Squad headquarters with some valuable information on Ryaz Bhatkal. There he met
ACP Surinder Singh. Shortly after their meeting Ahmad passed on three numbers
of Bhatkal’s operatives to ATS. Those numbers were promptly placed under surveillance.
At that time police had little experience in dealing with home grown terrors
which was vastly different from dealing with the underworld. Armed with
Intelligence information the officers zeroed in on Bhatkal. They raided a lodge
in Mangalore. The operation failed. Ryaz gave them the slip. Ryaz was trained
in Pakistan by ISI. He was no small player. He had his own informers.
Zero Dial: The Dangerous World of Informers goes far beyond
the professional life of informers. The politics among themselves, their
personal problems, betrayal – this book deals with all. When IB, RAW, ATS and
Crime Branch are putting all their resources together to hunt down Bhatkal,
Ahmad had to deal with his own problems. Shabbir, his infant son was suffering
from chronic pneumonia. The treatment was expensive. Doctor asked Rs. 10,000
for the surgery. Depending on the quality of information an informer’s income varied
from around Rs. 5,000 to several lakhs per month. There were informers like
Rahim who was so rich that they could employ a number of junior informers under
him. Most others, like Ahmad, lived in abject poverty. Rs. 10, 000 was quite a
lot of money for Ahmad. He begged help from the officers. He even asked Rahim.
Once, in Thane Jail, Ahmad had saved Rahim from Rao’s men. Now, instead of
helping him, Rahim suggested he should switch sides. In his time of need, Ahmad
found himself deserted. There was only one thing that could get him that kind
of money – Ryaz Bhatkal.
J. Dey, as the author was known in media circle was gunned
down on 11th June, 2011 by some assailants who, it was later
discovered, were employed by Rajendra Sadasiv Nikalje aka Chhota Rajan. During
this time Jyotirmoy Dey was working on his book Chindi – Rags to Riches. It was a compilation of stories of 20
gangsters. Chhota Rajan was one of them. Rajan got life imprisonment for
killing the journalist. He later confessed,
Dey continued writing stories against me... that my gang has become weak; I'm keeping sick; my loyal people have left me, etc. Hence I got an impression that he was working for the Dawood gang. I tried to convince him, but he didn't listen. I'm not sure whether he really was close to Dawood. But his writings made me feel like that.
(Source: The Quint)
It was difficult to say whether Rajan was being truthful. During
the investigation another name Jigna Vora came up. Perhaps I’ll discuss about
it some other time, in some other article. In Zero Dial: The Dangerous World of
Informers, the author himself had admitted that his work demanded close
connection with the underworld. Zero Dial,
said Dey, is not a product of my
imagination. It took years to gather these stories, pamper my informers, win
their confidence, and get them to tell me more. He had shortlisted three
informers, who he considered were the best in the profession. He closely
observed them for years. He met his families and children. In his book, the
informers don’t appear like mechanical pieces that lose their identities to fit
somewhere in a large system of things. They are men gifted with superb intelligence,
yet to the ordinary citizens like us, they don’t exist.
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