"Operation Desert Safari" continues...

Rajbir and the other two officers present were opposed to the idea. Verma said that the Police
Station staff and the Police Control Room vans would not handle the searches with the finesse
that was warranted. Their ham-handedness would only expose the hostage to risks that could prove fatal. They reassured me once again that we were on the right track and the best thing to do
was to press ahead patiently.

I returned home for lunch, still edgy and all knotted up with the gravity of the situation. I got
another call from Koya that his brother had been made to speak to him once again and maybe for
the last time. The kidnappers had decided that enough was enough and they were taking him out of the safe-house where he had been held captive thus far. They would drive him in the general
direction of the airport, and in case the ransom was paid in Dubai as mutually agreed upon, he
would be dropped at the airport and his passport returned. Adequate money would be given to
him for his ticket and incidental expenses. And if the ransom was not paid, he would be shot and
his body thrown on the roadside in a remote area.

Koya added Thekkat was sobbing during the conversation but, once again, had managed to convey a few clues about his location in Malayalam: a wedding ceremony was underway in close proximity of the kidnappers' hideout; loud music was emanating from the wedding function; a car with a canvas cover was parked across the street. A red-coloured multi-storied building was also in view from where he was confined.

I quickly passed on the information to Rajbir who, in turn, informed the search teams already combing the area. One of these teams spotted a marriage function in progress in a park situated in Sarvapriya Vihar, a colony adjoining Begumpur, but to its east. One thing was clear: while we had focused our searches on the Begumpur and Sarvodaya Enclave areas, the captive was held hostage, in all probability, in adjacent Sarvapriya Vihar

To be continued...