What the Doctor Ordered Continues ……….

In the midst of all this, on 13 January 1994, K. Vijaya Rama Rao called me to his office in the North Block and directed me to proceed to Hyderabad. Apparently, an informant of an ACP of the Hyderabad police had secret information about the serial train blast cases that he wished to share with the CBI. There was a possibility that the tip-off would require a full-fledged operation in Mumbai. My immediate superior, Joint Director S. Sen, was asked to leave for Mumbai, while I flew to Hyderabad to meet the informant.
I reached Hyderabad at around 8 p.m. I was to stay in the local police mess, but I drove straight from the airport to the office of the ACP, who was a prominent member of the Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) in the Hyderabad Police. The real name of the ACP eludes me now, but I remember that he was popularly called Gabbar Singh. His colleagues, on account of his imposing height, build and rather villainous looks that belied his friendly disposition, had given him this moniker. It was a pleasure to meet him and exchange details of the work being done by our respective units, which led to an immediate kinship.
Soon the ACP sent for his informant and in walked a short and frail man in his mid-thirties. He was unkempt and rather smelly. Gabbar Singh introduced me to him saying that I was the CBI officer sent from Delhi to follow up on the information he had. I tried my best to make the informant feel at ease and soon he began to talk freely with me in his typical Hyderabadi Hindi.

To be Continued ………….