Public enemies.
Hidden in the crowds of common Bengalis,
lay monsters in human disguise.
This story is about Hooghly's terror, Hubba Shyamal.
-Say something about Hubba Shyamal?
-It's best not to speak of Hubba!
It's better to meet Yamraj Himself, than to meet Hubba.
Even Yamraj may spare your life, but Hubba won't.
-Let me go, please!
-Leave you, eh?
Should've seen it coming before spying for the police!
Hey! Keep shut!
Boss will come & straighten you out!
-Playing a spy, eh?
Acting smart with us?
-Nyapa...
-We're ready, Boss! -Please forgive me...
Let us go! -Shut up!
-Time for the 'Poite cut'! Hold her still.
Make sure her eyes are open!
Please don't kill my son!
I'll chop you to pieces if she doesn't watch this!
-Hey, open your eyes! Keep your eyes open!
-I'm really sorry, I made a mistake!
Damn.
Ah! The bond of love! Son's blood all over his mum's face!
Still whining! Hold her still.
Old hag...
The 'Poite cut'.
Chop the body in two from the shoulder down!
Poite cut!
My own invention!
When the warm blood splashes on my face...
No other drug can come close!
Huh?
I'm not exaggerating.
What you have in your hands, your phone...
Go and look me up.
Find out about Shyamal's thirst for human blood!
Okay?
My name...
is Shyamal Das.
Although, people did call me 'Hubba Shyamal'.
Hubba (intoxicated)!
Hubb...
Come, this way.
Remember Samaddar? The tall one?
Which one...
The reporter!
Oh! Yes.
I made him into a football first.* Bugger...
-This way, to the left. -Yes.
It was a very clean job!
Well, we must do something for the new generation. Right?
True. And Bagha?
Boss's special treatment! Diced him up into kebabs!
-How far is it? -Come...
Oh, wow!
Huh!
You really went all out, Rajesh!*
A new place...
All the new recruits! Great!
Yes, Boss...
All new faces. -Yes.
The old ones are useless.
Can't move forward with the old ones.
-Hmm...
Can't move forward with the old ones...
So let's move back in time...
and watch how it all started! What say?
-How dare you!
First you bunk school to watch movies.
Then you rob the Bakshis today?
I know you won't listen to your dad.
But if your name gets into the criminal records,
you will never land a job in the factory.
Have you thought of that?
I learnt from the movies.
If you let fear set in, you welcome your own death.
Gabbar said so, don't you know?
Look at Ma.
Do you fear her?
I don't either.
But know who is afraid of her?
The fish.
Know why?
Because the chopper is in her hands!
-Those movies will be the death of you! Mark my words!
-Shyamal, he's here!
-What's wrong, Shyamal?
Heard the news?
What news?
A group of dacoits...
robbed the company cashier and fled with the money!
-Hey!
But why do you worry?
I mean... we can make a deal. You keep some, we keep some.
Let's do this together, steal and get rich!
Is this a joke?
I will slap that grin off your face!
Hey... that's not something kids should be playing with.
You refused to play by grown-up rules...
Stop kidding! I'll call the cops...
But I do want the cops to know...
that their new daddy has entered the game!
-I'm Jayanta Majumder.
I have been reporting crime since the 90s...
for many a famous magazines and news medias.
In my 30 years of journalism,
I've seen a lot of criminals.
Never seen someone as terrifying as Hubba!
The brutality of Hubba's crimes, the impossibly violent killings...
Sometimes he used his 'Poite cut'.
Just like a 'poite' is worn across the body,
he'd slice his victims into two!
He called it his "poite style".
And sometimes he'd turn someone into a football.
-Yes, it depended on his anger, as to how he'll kill someone.
He'd choose his method according to the intensity of his anger.
"Make me a couple of drinks, I'll make mincemeat out of them!"
He didn't count the number of pieces he'd cut them into!
He turned them into kebabs!
I mean he chopped bodies up into so many pieces,
just as one makes kebab pieces.
People were always in a state of terror.
From his childhood he was involved in thefts, robberies.
Mainly wagon-breaks...
And local murders...
Also, the factories in Hooghly at that time, he robbed them empty!
If any other goon stood up to him...
either he or his men, would murder them immediately.
-I don't like repeating myself.
It's very irritating.
I will say it only once, so listen carefully.
Look...
You all...
God's been kind to you, you have jobs to feed you.
Nothing wrong with that.
Keep stealing stuff as you do, no issues.
But everything that's iron or steel...
You must submit all of that here.
And I've fixed the rate. Half the market price.
Works well I believe. Everyone earns their bits, all happy hearts.
Equality.
I'm done talking.
Any queries, ask away.
Or I'll have to explain again. I don't like that.
Too many questions will flare my temper.
Then I end up in a murdering spree. Bloodshed, ridding the bodies...
Then have the pot-bellied cops running about!
I don't like it. I don't support it, right?
So? Hmm?
Shyamal?
I need to talk to you in private.
Dilip, you're growing old!
Have your ears checked.
I've already said what I had to say. How many times must I repeat myself?
What do you mean you've said it?
How can I work for the same rate as everyone else?
-Oh, can't you now? -No.
Listen, Shyamal...
I've been in this line of work far longer than you.
My name's been rotting in criminal records long before you came in.
Got it?
-Where is it... -What, Boss?
Nothing, forget it.
Alright, come, let's sit in the car & talk in private.
And work it out!
Then?
Don't forget that it's all thanks to me that you can afford a car now.
Don't forget that I'm the one driving the car.
So... what happened to Dilip?
The one who robbed the *** factory?
Dilip is missing. It's been around six months.
But the robberies haven't stopped.
Who is buying the stolen goods?
-Only one name these days, sir. Hubba Shyamal.
-Hubba Shyamal?
95, 96, 97... It was a bloodied era.
Love for blood, is a very animalistic trait.
But even animals kill other living beings for necessity, hunger.
But criminals like these...
They often kill without any reason.
He used to extort money from people.
There have been times when he forgot that someone's already paid.
He'd call them up demanding payment. They'd say "But I've paid you".
He'd say, "Fine, pay again." They'd ask "But why'd I pay again?"
He'd reply "Because you're the buffoon & I'm a goon!"
He was on the wanted-list for a long time, nowhere to be found.
After committing crimes for about 18 years,
the ongoing myth that became was that the police can't catch Hubba.
-How are you, bugger?
Listen...
Today, at 3:30...
come to Lalgate, near the field.
We need to scare someone.
Don't make this long.
Lalgate, 3:30...
You never know if the call's being tapped. Hang up!
Shyamal isn't human, he's as cunning as a jackal!
-We skipped lunch for this, yet there's no sign of the bugger!
-I send them on a picnic.
Their afternoon siesta is ruined!
Tapping my calls?
Hmm?
Shut up!
Hubba network was vast, he had ears even inside the police station!
Whenever there was any discussion of catching Hubba,
news would reach him even before the operation started.
Hence the police failed again and again to catch Hubba.
But the man in fear of whom Hubba had to flee Hooghly...
he had encountered many of Hubba's men...
Can I say his name?
-My name is Sukamalkanti Das.
I was a sub-inspector in 1989.
I was in Hooghly from 1998 to 2010.
Hubba's empire stretched from Maheshtala in South 24 Parganas...
from Behala...
along with Hooghly industrial belt's Serampore,
Konnagar, uh... Kanaipur...
Sheoraphuli, Rishra...
Even including Howrah's industrial belt, & Malipanchghora too.
Hubba Shyamal's rule was based on terror.
He made everyone fear him.
So a reign of terror would prevail.
Many dangerous criminals in the area...
He used to employ them in his gang.
A heinous killer...
who, for money...
and for fame, rather infamy... could do anything.
Nyapa?
Nyapa...
Pick one.
I am trying to decide between playing or murdering.
What did I pick?
Playing won.
Let's go. -(stuttering) Why?
Let's kill some people first.
Then we'll play.
Move!
He used to kill people, taste their blood and say,
"Never knew human blood was so sweet!"
He once kept a woman locked up in a room
with her husband's severed head for three days!
His own men feared him a lot.
If Hubba called them at night, no one dared to come.
Hey, listen...
You're new, right? -Yes.
I'll give you an advice, don't forget it.
If Boss calls you post ten in the night,
if he sounds intoxicated on phone,
never go meet him!
What! How will I survive the night if I refuse him?
He's in a better mood in the morning, easier to handle.
But if you meet him at night, there's no guarantee of your safety.
He'll turn you into a football! -Huh?!
A football? -Yes.
He'll slash your stomach, take out your organs,
fill you up with stones, seal you up, and drown you somewhere.
That body will never resurface!
Even his own men?
Once he's drunk...
it doesn't really matter to him.
He turns "Hubba"!
Hey! Quiet! It's the police!
How did he know?
These police cars are like career whores.
All loose everywhere!
When they approach, the headlights shine straight onto
the lampposts.
I can easily distinguish from afar, which one is a cop car,
and which one belongs to a commoner.
People think, since I'm uneducated,
Shyamal only uses his fists.
But no one knows...
when Shyamal uses his fist, when he chooses to use his heart,
or when he uses his brain!
Found some really solid intel.
It's Viswakarma Puja tomorrow.
Hubba Shyamal will come back to his neighbourhood.
The entire team should be ready in plain clothes.
And make sure no one gets to know about it.
We must catch him tomorrow!
-The area from Uttarpara to Serampore isn't very big.
A small police station, everyone knows everyone. I'd get identified.
So me, an ASI, and two constables went there wearing lungis...
We rented a mobile phone & got hold of our revolvers.
Then, set out to catch Hubba Shyamal.
Boss!
Don't you know we should offer our machines at the Viswakarma Puja?
Hmm?
Boss! A bird!
Bird?
Bugger fled again!
-Whenever the cops made any move...
they had people everywhere, rickshawallas, fishmongers, women...
even teenagers, the ones who had strayed off path...
They were his informers.
Hubba had about 800 workers under him.
Hubba used to get wind of our operations
long before we set out on the raid.
And the cops always came back empty handed.
It became a myth to the Hooghly Police.
Whenever any such raids occurred,
Hubba used to go into hiding outside the district.
-Boss? -Hmm?
Why do you still do these jobs yourself? We are there, aren't we?
Listen...
Always take care of your own instruments yourself.
And with these bombs...
If it blows up in my hand, at least my death is all on me.
I'll kill myself out of shame if I die of someone else's negligence.
Right? -Come on...
What are you saying! You're such a big developer now.
Why take such matters into your own hands?
Then why is that developer being so smart?
Why won't he pay me? Why?
We'll scare some sense into him tomorrow.
No.
You won't go alone. I'll join you all.
Y'all are too hotheaded, who knows what you'll do?
Don't forget that we aren't goons anymore.
We're developers.
Okay?
I told you, nothing to worry about.
Yes. Sir has spoken to the people higher up.
If we've to stop working because of these goons,
then that'd be the end of us! Shut it!
-Good evening!
Mr Manager!
My boys here are a little crazy, you know.
They wanted to scare some sense into you.
So unnecessary, right?
That's why I had to come to prevent any mishap from happening.
Hey... don't move.
You had some dirt in your eyes. Anyway...
They don't know when to threaten people...
and when to shoot!
Ah!
All because of you guys.
I was a sub-inspector in the CID in 2005.
I was in the SOG, we had Rajib Pal sir back then.
He told us to make a list of top ten wanted criminals district-wise.
So Hubba Shyamal topped that list.
Shyamal is very cunning.
I hear he floats in false intel about himself.
Sir, he killed the site manager, now he plans to kill the developer.
Along with his family.
They live in Howrah, we heard while tapping his call.
Tell the local police station to take the family into protection.
-I've informed them. -Increase surveillance on him.
Everywhere, deploy our team at all entry & exit points of the city.
In civil clothes, okay?
Rajarhat, airport...
Baguihati, Kestopur, Salt Lake...
Everywhere!
No matter what, we need to catch him! Alive!
Yes, sir.
But it will be a very challenging task.
He's extremely paranoid.
Always changing his appearance.
We have no clue what he looks like these days.
And most importantly, he uses more than five phones!
Track all the phones simultaneously!
On entering that flat at Howrah,
first that developer,
then his wife,
then the kid...
I'll give them all a poite cut!
You know, Rajesh*...
Our whole business runs on fear...
If they stop fearing us,
the business is gone.
But, Boss, going straight to his house...
The cops are looking for you now.
If you... -Spoken like a typical sidekick!
Hence you never became king.
Keep this in mind.
Too much courage makes people overconfident.
History bears witness.
You don't need a huge throne to be some big king.
You need to wage huge wars!
And history bears witness...
Overconfidence is the world's most efficient human suicide bomb.
It happened in 2005.
This was when Hubba Shyamal got arrested.
It was December, we set out tracing Hubba Shyamal's tower location
in order to catch him.
A source of mine gave me a number.
He advised me to track this number.
Lawful surveillance had just started then.
We took that number... into surveillance.
We could hear Shyamal talk on it.
-We have Shyamal's location at two places now. One, near Baguihati.
The other is going out of the city from Barrackpore.
We need to track both the phones.
Obviously he isn't at two places at once.
We need to guess which of the two places he is at.
We tracked the tower locations, sometimes it was at Newtown.
Our team was at Newtown. Sir was with us.
We all went there, to Newtown.
We didn't find him there.
Chasing him had tired us out by evening.
-Sir, Hubba has been at one location for a while now.
Is he with some woman?
Knowing Shyamal, it could be so.
We are chasing him like idiots and he's having a gala time!
If he's with a woman, he must be at some flat.
That's the problem. Such a huge area...
If we have to search all the apartments here...
Sir, we'll never catch him that way.
We will need more men, and that will tip him off!
He's in the same place for over an hour?
Sir, he wouldn't be with a woman for that long.
I mean Hubba isn't that romantic!
When we almost reached Salt Lake City Centre, a call came in.
He was speaking with Bacchu.
During the call, in the background,
we could hear gunshots.
I thought...
his location shows he's inside Salt Lake City Centre.
Surely gunshots aren't happening in there. Then where could he be?
Then we did some guesswork.
Is he watching a movie?
Take the right...
-We reached and asked them,
what films were showing there.
Knowing Hubba...
One was an English film, a kids movie.
Another was Kalyug, a film with loads of violence & action.
We knew that with how he is, he must be watching Kalyug.
One more interesting fact was...
he had once been caught a long time back.
But we didn't have his photograph.
A place like Salt Lake City Centre,
a sophisticated audience would come out of the theatre when it ends.
It was too tough to identify Shyamal among them.
Like a needle in a haystack!
So, when Kalyug's show ended it was nearly evening.
The sun was setting.
But whom do we go after? Which one is him?
Arresting Shyamal directly from there...
It might backfire if we accidentally arrested some VIP.
We put our brains to use...
If Shyamal's there & I call out "Shyamal da",
he'll surely respond if he is there.
-Shyamal da!
All good?
Hooghly's terror,
who'd been getting away from the police for about 18 years,
that Hubba was ultimately caught...
Hubba spent about a year or so in jail after he was arrested.
He was charged under different cases, but...
what was tragic for the cops was that we didn't find any witnesses.
Because everyone was afraid to go up against such a big criminal.
So he began to be acquitted from the cases...
Hubba's reign went on for 30 years.
From 1982 to 2011.
-After getting caught, Hubba's reputation went down.
Many of the men in his gang, like Rakesh Mahato & Nyapa...
They slowly started usurping his territories.
Eventually Hubba understood that his men were betraying him.
-It's been a long time, Boss.
It's time for the next generation.
And anyway, your rule here has ended.
People are starting to forget the gang.
And you said so yourself...
In our line, fear is our main weapon!
Someone needs to take the fall!
Go, take care of him.
What is Rajesh saying?
Nyapa!
Hey!
Hey! Hey, Nyapa!
You can't do this to your big bro! Just tell me what you want!
Are you trying to scare me?
If you have any demands... just tell me! Don't do this, Nyapa!
Hey...
Hey!
You're making a mistake!
I took you all this far...
Hey, Nyapa!
Ramesh's team gave him a 'poite cut' and dumped him in the drains.
It was his most favourite cut.
God had the same cut in store for him.
That ended his life.
"HUBBA SHYAMAL MISSING AFTER GOING OUT ON RIVAL RAMESH'S CALL"