"Return of the Memons- A Pyrrhic Victory" continues...

The chances of getting it back were rather bleak as, by then, in all likelihood, the Pakistani authorities would have realised that it was the passport of one of the Memons trying to escape them.

As the day of August 22 broke, Suresh informed me of his success in finding his family members and also convincing them to travel with him to Delhi. However, he wanted a solution to Rahin’s problem. I was ecstatic that my plan had worked, if not in full, at least in ample measure. When I informed my bosses, the Director wanted to know our further plan of action. I proposed that in the interest of expediency, the Memons should continue their travel to India on their Pakistani passports. Getting the Memons Emergency Indian passports, with no arrival entry into Dubai, would make their exit complicated. If they were given Emergency Passports by the Indian Consulate, it would have to be in their original names, which, in all probability, were on the wanted list of Dubai Immigration, given the Interpol Red Notices against them. Giving them passports on fake identities was asking for too much of the Indian Mission in Dubai. So the best and safest strategy was to get the Ministry of External Affairs to instruct our Consulate in Dubai to give them visas on their Pakistani passports, without any demur. The bosses saw my point.

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On the same day at 9.00 AM, Vijaya Rama Rao, Director, CBI, on the advice of S.Sen, my Joint
Director, presented me before Surendra Singh, the then Cabinet Secretary. K.Padmanabhaiah, the Union Home Secretary and Salman Haider, Special Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs (officiating Foreign Secretary as FS was out of station) were also present for the meeting on the Director’s request. After introducing me briefly to the bigwigs, he proudly announced pointing at me: ‘Gentlemen, this young man has something to tell you.'