Industrialist hides in Delhi, says his MP is after him

Two weeks ago, when Pande, who says he is in an “undeclared exit”, told the Supreme Court about his plight, he cried inconsolably. Yesterday the court ordered the Bihar DGP to “take all necessary steps” to give him security, “despite the complainant saying that he did not have faith in the state police.”

“I told the justices that I may not be able to survive till the vacations are over (as was suggested by the court).” And then, he could not hold back his tears. He had also told the court that he could not file a case in the Patna High Court as he wouldn’t be alive if he tried to go to Patna.

For the past 10 years, he has been up against an unrelenting terror. Through the ’80s, Pande was graduating from being a colliery owner in Hazaribagh to having a majority share in a Mumbai-based company (its two units, a sugar factory and a distillery, are in Siwan). Shahabuddin, in the meantime, was rising through the ranks from being a hitman to a political figure, he says.

Pande was himself a member of legislative assembly (1972-77) of Siwan from the Congress Party. He was expelled from the party when he openly supported the JP movement. Shahabuddin went berserk once he got the political patronage of Laloo Prasad Yadav, says Pande.

Pande’s first brush with Shahabuddin was over rangdari tax (extortion money) in 1990. “He demanded Rs 50,000 per month from me as rangdari tax. When I refused, they got me kidnapped.” Pande was kidnapped when he was coming out from the District Magistrate’s office in Siwan. However, the police acted quickly and he was freed “within 15 minutes”. A lull followed, as the kidnappers were on the run.

Then Shahabuddin became an MLA from the then ruling Janata Dal. “Frustrated with the failure of kidnapping bid, he got in league with the government and tried to get my factory closed,” he says. The government started pressuring him to get a license from the state, whereas the rules did not require it, he says. Pande filed a suit against the state government and won the case from the Supreme Court in 1997. A reign of terror followed. “Every day, I get the news that some parts or machinery from my factories are being taken out. But I just cannot do anything,” he says. Even his home is without guards. “He has shooed them away by threatening or beating them,” says Pande.