Spandan Docu Theatre

Cop sniffs real life in play
Sabyasachi Bandopadhyay

THE Delhi police commissioner, Krishna Kanta Paul, has today written to Sangram Guha, playwright of 16 Millimeter, expressing his desire to watch the play.
The play has striking resemblance with the Geelani episode. As opposed to the real life developments, the play gives a clean chit to Abdur Rahman Geelani, a Delhi University professor, who was charged by the Delhi Police on the allegations of being one of the masterminds in the attack on Parliament on December 13, 2001.
Published in Indian Express 11 August 2005.
"I have not seen the play so far, but 1 have heard a lot about it... I know it was staged in New Delhi several times. In my entire service life, I have never come across such a striking resemblance between the ingredients of a play and what happened in actual life. I must see this play whenever I find the opportunity, " Paul's letter to Guha said.
The letter came to Guha in the wake of his sending an invitation to Paul to watch the play that is going to be held at a Calcutta auditorium on August 12.
The play tried to depict how the Delhi University professor was "framed" in the attack on Parliament three years back and later acquitted by the Delhi High Court.
Recently, a Supreme Court order has also acquitted Geelani because of lack of proper evidences, but the apex court did again raise some questions on the role of the professor.
Guha is a noted playwright of Spandan affiliated with IPTA, a theatre organisation affiliated with the Left Front.
It may be mentioned here that a couple of months back Guha got threatening calls from unidentified people of Delhi. Both the Kolkala Police and their counterparts in Delhi launched investigations on the matter, with Paul taking a proactive role in ordering the probe in the Capital.