“Devil Wears ‘Khaadi’ (The Unmasking of Romesh Sharma)” continues…

By a most fortuitous co-incidence, only a couple of weeks earlier, I received a call from a senior colleague working as Special Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs, who gave me an overseas number to check whether it belonged to someone called Abu Salem. My database on Mumbai underworld, collated since 1993, the year the STF of the CBI took over the investigation of the Bombay Bomb Blast case, revealed that indeed the number was Abu Salem’s. When I rang back the Special Secretary confirming the information, he asked me to come over immediately to the North Block, an imposing office complex on Raisina Hill of Lutyen’s Delhi, which houses Ministries of Finance, Home and Personnel & Training. There I was asked to accompany the Special Secretary to meet Arvind Varma, Secretary, Department of Personnel & Training. Ramesh Malik, who apparently had known Varma for long, had informed him that he had received a threatening call on his landline from someone asking him to write off his property in Chiragh Enclave in favour of his cousin Ashok Mallik. The caller had left his mobile number and had disclosed his identity as Abu Salem.

Malik, who was genuinely ignorant of anyone called Salem, asked: ‘‘‘Salem who?’’’ ‘‘‘Ask your thana in-charge or your Commissioner of Police, you so and so, and they would tell you who Salem is’’’, came the terse reply from the other end.

Now that I had confirmed to both Varma and the Special Secretary that the caller was no fake but a dangerous gangster, they wanted me to help Ramesh Malik. It was obvious that his cousin Ashok Malik wanted a quick settlement of the property dispute in his own favour and had contacted Abu Salem directly or through someone easily accessible, who was closely linked with the underworld. Chances of the latter were clearly higher.

Since the expectation of me from my senior colleague was to provide immediate relief to Ramesh Malik, I immediately put an Inspector of my team based in Bombay on the job.

To be continued..