[ALOCHONA] City docs help Bangla goons get new faces

City docs help Bangla goons get new faces   KOLKATA: In the dead of the night, some operation theatres in the city clinics come alive. This is when notorious gangsters — mostly from Bangladesh — lie under the scalpel, getting their faces changed. After a six-hour surgery , the man in the police mugshots is gone forever. The criminal emerges with a new face and a new identity, and police are left clutching thin air. What's more shocking, some orofacial reconstruction surgeons from the city perform this highly skilled operation. Jawlines are altered, bunny teeth vanish, noses are made to look different, and even the eyes get a different shape. One had his skin tone altered, a la Michael Jackson. The city underworld has given these surgeries a name: 'Faceoff', after the Hollywood blockbuster. CID, which is probing the case, has identified at least 17 Bangladeshi criminals who've become "unrecognizable". "Worse, some of them have managed to get voter-ID cards and Indian passports with their new look," a senior CID officer said. A TOI investigation has revealed that at least six of them — done by a city doctor between end-2006 and early-2008 — were performed in three renowned clinics. Two of the dreaded criminals who have undergone 'face-off' surgeries are Mohammed Iqbal and Sufi Khan, of Bangla-desh's notorious Seven Star group, sources say. The outfit shot into prominence during Awami League rule, specializing in gold smuggling and emerging as the biggest rivals of Subrata Bayen, recently arrested by Kolkata Police. Iqbal and Khan are suspected to be henchmen of Liaqat Hossain, 'Senior' Hannan and Auranga. The modus operandi is much the same in all cases. Agents in Bangladesh and Kolkata work in tandem, tapping criminals, networking with surgeons/clinics, organizing the operation and clients' clandestine stay for post-operative care and then their departure. The 'package' costs at least four times the amount that a normal client pays. This is because the surgery team has to perform the tedious operation only in the wee hours and then take care of the post-operative part in secret locations, say sources. CID got wind of these surgeries only recently and quickly rounded up some agents. After interrogating them, it zeroed in on some doctors and clinics that had conducted such surgeries and issued strict warnings to them. TOI tracked down one such surgeon — Anirban Sengupta — who has changed the faces of at least six such criminals. He says he was contacted by agents and did not know the true identity of his clients. Sengupta is the one who changed 38-year-old Saiyyad Mabud's skin tone from 'ebony dark toad' (as mentioned in police records) to 'wheatish'. Mabud's skin had turned rough, dark and leathery due to repeated use of bleaching agents in his efforts to change complexion and hide from police. During the surgery in a Kolkata clinic, the skin of his face was pulled off and new skin was implanted. When the bandages were removed, Mabud couldn't recognize himself in the mirror. Another of Sengupta's 'patients' was Mohammed Iqbal, who had a jutting upper jaw and protruding teeth. The jaw and lips were corrected and his teeth went back in. He looks entirely different now. The list of patients that Sengupta has handed over to CID includes names such as J Ilias,S Alam and Sufi Khan. The then additional SP of CID, Humayun Kabir, visited Sengupta to warn him that he had actually been changing faces of dreaded criminals, wanted not only in Bangladesh but also in Kolkata for gun running and links with terror groups. "I was apprehensive about operating on these people because their looks gave them away as criminals. Some had deep wounds and scars on their faces. I was alarmed when they said they wanted the surgery only between midnight and 5 am. My mistake was that I did not check their records. My doubts were confirmed when police showed up at my door. I pleaded innocence. Now, I ask my patients to inform the police station before coming for a face change operation," Sengupta told TOI.    http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Kolkata_docs_help_goons_get_new_faces/ articleshow/3635044.cms

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