"Operation Desert Safari" continues...

The Pradhan also knew that the exporter had regular business dealings with Dubai and had several people from the Gulf visiting him from time to time. Some of them, according to him, looked suspicious. This only strengthened our conviction that we were on the right track.

The Begumpur house to be raided had a huge courtyard at the rear. There was no way to reach its second floor from the rear, even if we used the ladder we were carrying. It left us with no option but to raid it from the front. The front door was of solid teak and breaking it open would only alarm the inmates and neighbours alike. On our request, the Pradhan rang the doorbell as we hid ourselves. First the lights on the first floor were switched on. A
Nepali servant peeped out and spoke to the Pradhan. Despite requests from the Pradhan, he
refused to open the door and switched off the lights. Then the lights on the second floor came on
and we heard a flurry of activity. We knew that the time to move in had arrived and broke open
the front teak door. What had looked impregnable was gone in seconds.

Homes are meant to be your castles; unless the cops are at your door and decide to barge in! We rushed in and scrambled up the stairs. But, to our utter disappointment, all we found on the first and second floors were
frightened labour hailing from Nepal. It came to light that the caretaker, who had earlier spoken with the Pradhan, was scared to open the door as he had allowed a handful of fellow Nepalese to stay in the premises. This was not in the knowledge of his employer, who also owned the building. Thus, our first raid had proved to be futile, even though the Begumpur house matched the description given by the victim entirely.

To be continued...