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The trials and tribulations of a police informer

Now living out of a 13x20-foot-room in Delhi's Nangloi area, Ali works as a taxi driver for a Delhi-based tour operator. His past, however, keeps reminding him of the price he paid for becoming a police informer.

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Irshad Ali
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In February 2006, almost 15 years after Irshad Ali dropped out of Ahmadiya Salfia madrasa in Darbhanga, he sat against a wall, listening in to a mushaira (poetry recital), thinking it might as well be the last one he ever heard. At the time, Ali was being held in what he calls a 'facility' used by the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and Delhi police’s special cell for holding individuals they detain before their formal arrest.

"There were no windows in the cell where I slept, except one square opening used for ventilation,"Ali told DNA in an interview after he was acquitted and freed of allegations that he was part of the Al Badr militant group, an accusation for which he spent four years in prison.

Now living out of a 13x20-foot-room in Delhi's Nangloi area, Ali works as a taxi driver for a Delhi-based tour operator. His past, however, keeps reminding him of the price he paid for becoming a police informer.

Ali's father, who worked in Delhi as an assistant with a lawyer, managed to collect Rs 45,000 and gifted him an auto rickshaw in 1991. That same year, Ali’s elder brother, Naushad, had been jailed for alleged murder, and the responsibility to take care of his six sisters and parents had fallen on him. Five years later, though, everything would change for Ali.

"I used to visit my brother at Tihar regularly. In 1996, ACP Rajbir Singh's team picked me up from Jahangirpuri on suspicion," Ali said, adding that he was "tortured" for 10 days and later picked up again by ACP, Crime Branch, Ravi Shankar and detained for eight more days.

"They stripped me naked and hung me upside down, and poured petrol onto my private parts. They used to ask me where I had hidden the RDX, but I had no clue what they were talking about," Ali recounted.

He continued with his work but visited his brother less in jail, suspecting that his visits had caused the police to be suspicious of him.

His brother would carry requests from other prisoners, asking Ali to send for their family members or pass messages on to them. A lot of the prisoners were often from Delhi, but at times there were those who hailed from Kashmir.

Then came 2001, the year he met an IB official named Majid Din. "The IB picked me up and kept me in custody for four days. They pressurised me to work for them. An officer even said they can also plant RDX and put me in jail. This was the first time that I met IB officer Majid Din. He was given the duty to deal with me. The CBI has named him as well," Ali narrated.

Ali caved in and and thus began his journey as a police informer. For the next two-three years, he was simply asked to bring the letters that he used to get from Tihar and hand them over to IB officials for "checking".

"They told me I would be paid Rs 7,000 and said I could continue driving my auto. They also promised me safety in India," Ali said. After doing numerous small assignments, which mostly included following people, Ali’s bosses grew restless. "Majid Din told me that the work I used to do was small and that I needed to do something bigger," he said.

Months later, Ali was introduced to two Kashmiri men, who identified themselves as Fayaz and Imtiyaz. "The men gave me the numbers of two people named Bilal Siddiqui and Maulana Farooq, who they claimed were in Pakistan. I was told that I would be sent from Kashmir into Pakistan to get information from militant camps there. When Fayaz and I tried to enter Pakistan, we were caught by military intelligence personnel. They beat us up for two to three days and when we said we worked for the IB, they didn't believe us. Finally, IB officials arrived and got us out of there," Ali said, adding that the goal at that time was to infiltrate Jammu and Kashmir Islamic Front, an outfit headed by Bilal Baig.

Ali said that during his time in Kashmir, he was also made to meet people in a forest in Kashmir, who Fayaz and Imtiyaz claimed were Al Badr commanders.

"When we came back, Majid said it was risky to try and enter Pakistan and I should instead enter Pakistan legally. The CBI in its report had even written that I received 90 calls from the Home Ministry's lead line and Majid Din was calling me for many years," Ali said.

The CBI was roped in to investigate the case when Maurif Qamar’s brother, Kashif Ali, filed a petition before the Delhi High Court seeking transfer of the case to the CBI. Qamar was also held along with Ali by the Delhi police's special cell and accused of being a militant.

But it took a lot of self-convincing to pull back. Ali said that during his time as an informer, he was regularly made to meet a person who he even till now refers to as Shaam uncle. It was this person who motivated Ali to do something for his country. "Shaam uncle spoke to me for two to three hours whenever we met. I was overwhelmed with a feeling to do something for my country," Ali said. But then he had a change of heart

The chilling words allegedly spoken by officer Majid were what pushed him further away. "Majid Din told me, 'Irshad, kaam hota nahin hai, kaam banana padta hai (work doesn’t come just like that, it has to be created).' He meant business. He wanted me to ready Muslim youths in villages to send them over to Pakistan and, upon their return, it was their job to do whatever they want," Ali said.

This conversation had apparently taken place in the summer of 2005, following which Ali avoided his bosses and even refused to take their calls, and finally, after an argument on December 11, Ali was called to Maurya Hotel and detained the next day.

“Two months later, they took me and Maurif Qamar to Mukarba Chowk and pretended to have arrested us. I later came to know that the police had claimed to have recovered RDX and weapons from me,” he said.

But his humiliation was far from over. Paraded in front of the media, Ali also claimed that a Delhi police officer, Rajpal Dabas, verbally abused his mother and slapped his father when they had come to visit him after his arrest.

Now a man cleared of all charges, Ali doesn't want much from life. A lot had happened during his time in prison. His wife had to take up a job as a cook for factory workers. His sisters got married as his father decided not to retire owing to the financial crises. When he was released, his daughter, who had been unwell, passed away and so did his father.

"I would like to see the people who did this to me punished. But I don't know if my wish will ever be fulfilled,” he said. Like Ali, his elder son, too, dropped out of school owing to the financial status of the family. "What will my son do? He will not get a government job. He will drive an auto, just like his father,” Ali concluded.

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