Transgenders hold south Kolkata family to ransom, demand Rs 51,000

KOLKATA: Prasad Ranjan Das (73), former chief architect of the architectural wing of the Bengal government, and his wife, Malabasree Das, were on Tuesday reportedly “held hostage” by a group of transgenders, who demanded Rs 51,000 as a gift for the birth of the couple’s granddaughter in Mumbai some time ago.
The group not only abused Prasad Ranjan, who is the nephew of Deshabandhu Chittaranjan Das, and his wife, but also broke their household items, apparently in an attempt to intimidate them.
Prasad and Malabasree, who has retired from the state I&C department, were visiting her father’s place near Asutosh College in Bhowanipore when the incident took place. The extortion attempt, as claimed by Das, lasted for close to three hours.

“Despite cops from the Bhowanipore police station reacting immediately and sending a force, the group continued to hurl abuses at me. The police asked me to go inside the house and that infuriated the group members who foul-mouthed the cops as well,” claimed Prasad Ranjan. “The local police will take necessary action,” said joint CP (crime) Murlidhar Sharma.
According to Prasad Ranjan, he and his wife were at his in-laws’ home when the doorbell rang around 9am. “My wife opened the door and before she could react, three transgenders pushed her aside and barged in. They even shut the door behind them. Then they asked us to show the baby.
I was taken aback. I tried telling them that I was an aged person and both my son and daughter were settled in other cities. My wife, unaware of their plans, asked them whether they were talking about our grandchild, who was born in Mumbai. The moment she said it, they pounced on it and demanded Rs 51,000.
They demanded we give them our daughter’s current address or that of her in-laws, who live in Kolkata. When we refused, they started threatening us and then, went inside the dining room, where they hurled bowls and kettles to intimidate us. This was a rude shock for me,” he said.
He called the police. “The cops responded but that angered the group even more. They now threatened assault and used using abusive language. The cops asked me to go inside, promising to remove them. It took the cops close to one-and-a-half hours to bring the situation under control.
As a descendant of the Das family, which has made innumerable contributions to this nation, this was something that we were not ready for. I believe it was just an attempt at extortion before the Pujas. They thought senior citizens would give in to their hooliganism,” Prasad Ranjan said.
A senior officer of Kolkata Police said they are aware of the issue but could seldom act like that in other extortion cases. Sometimes, the transgenders ganged up and created trouble outside police stations, he said. “Once a gang of 200 transgenders raided the Lake police station, when the officers had interfered in a similar case. But such cases can be handled if people lodge complaints,” said the officer.