"Operation Desert Safari" continues...

Given their sophistication and their presentable
personas, they could operate in cities with considerable ease and facility. Killing of hostages, if ransom was not paid, was part of their modus operandi. They had committed several kidnappings in the past for Bablu Srivastava, Abu Salem, Fazlu ur Rehman, Ali Budesh, Aftab Ansari etc, all dreaded criminals of the underworld, in different cities in India viz. Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Lucknow etc.

These revelations were cause for further worry. Was it now necessary and prudent for me to request the Commissioner of Police, Delhi to put the entire might of the Delhi Police behind this case so that the kidnapped person could be rescued and his precious life saved? I was also beginning to ask myself why did I go by the advice of a maverick ACP to take up investigation of a kidnapping case involving a rescue operation. After all, I was in the CBI, a Joint Director handling economic offences. What business did I have to get involved in a live case of kidnapping with hardly any resources of my own to handle such an operation? If anything went wrong, no fingers would be pointed at the ACP or the Delhi Police. The entire blame would lie at my door and the CBI’s.

Meanwhile, quite understandably, the tone and tenor of Koya's calls from Abu Dhabi kept changing for the worse. He was gradually getting aggressive and reproachful. He said he had committed a grave error by reporting the matter to the Indian Police, CBI included, who in any case are not known to be professionally competent and efficient. If any harm came to his brother, the entire responsibility was going to be mine. On March 17, six days after the kidnapping of his brother, he disclosed that his family had negotiated the ransom amount and decided to pay US $ 700,000 the following day and be done with it.

When all our efforts drew a blank till late on 17th night, I decided to talk it over with Rajbir and tell him about my assessment of the situation.

To be continued...