Carcass kingpin Mangsho Bishu’s wife went off meat as scandal broke

KOLKATA:

Bishwanath Ghorui

, aka

‘Mangsho Bishu’

,

the arrested kingpin

of the

carcass meat racket

who has thousands of meat-loving Kolkatans shuddering in revulsion at the sight of meat, can count one from his own home — his wife.

Sadhana had stopped eating her favourite dishes when the racket was busted in the second week of April. “I felt like throwing up. We even stopped having chicken because the sight of it reminded me of dead animals,” says the 56-year-old.

She stopped cooking meat at home the day she heard that some men had been arrested for selling

carcass

meat from the Budge Budge dumpyard. She had let out a silent curse that day, little realizing that it was her husband who was the mastermind of the racket.

So when cops landed at her Tetulberia home in Sonarpur on Thursday, she couldn’t believe that her husband was behind selling meat unfit for human consumption.

“I was shocked when the cops arrived to arrest my husband. He is a wholesaler of fish and did not deal with meat,” said a defensive Sadhana on Friday, still refusing to believe her husband’s role. Ghorui is in police custody till May 8.

Tetulberia, a middle-class locality, is abuzz ever since the news of Ghorui’s arrest spread on Thursday, and the neighbours are furious.

“He should be handed the most severe punishment for this crime,” says Alok Dey, a neighbour who thought Ghorui only sold fish.

One can even ignore a petty crime or an economic offence. But mixing carcass meat with fresh one is a heinous crime. It is like giving somebody poison,” says a homemaker from the neighbourhood.

Locals say Ghorui, who started off as a wholesaler of fish in Sealdah, usually kept to himself. He would leave home early and return late at night. Only during the Pujas was he seen mingling with his neighbours.

Biswanath earned the nickname ‘Mangsho Bishu’ because of the ease with which he could supply big consignments of meat and fish even at short notice. Whether it was a wedding ceremony or annaprashan, a political function or a post-puja get-together, Biswanath was the go-to man for meat in the area.

“Every caterer, puja committee and political worker in Sonarpur knew that they will get meat at only one place the quantity and the time notwithstanding. This is why Biswanath is called Mangsho Bishu,” says Panna Lal Ghosh, who runs Lokenath Caterer in Garia.

Neighbours say they are forced to hang their heads in shame because of one man who has brought disrepute to their locality.

“Tetulberia is an ordinary neighbourhood where middle-class people have made their homes. We never thought the name of this area will be smeared in this manner because of one person. We are having to hang our heads in shame,” says Bikash Pramanik, a local resident.

The Ghoruis have been residents of Tetulberia for decades living in a two-storey house that needs a fresh coat of paint. The couple has two sons and a daughter but none of them has joined their father’s business.


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