“Gifts from the Gulf” continues…

Ashabuddin, Abdul Subhan and Yunus, during their interrogation, disclosed they all worked on the directions of one Aquib Ali Khan of Alwar district of Rajasthan. According to them, Aquib had left Delhi for Bhopal by car, a Santro, with registration number DL-4C-J-2450. Aquib’s girlfriend Humeira Firdaus lived in the Ghoda Nikas area of Madhya Pradesh’s capital. A CBI team headed by Inspector Jagdish Prasad was dispatched to look for Aquib. ____________________________

Our boys reached Bhopal on the night of Nov. 5, 2001 and fanned out in Ghoda Nikas. It is a thickly populated, congested area of old Bhopal City, teeming with people from a minority community, packed in houses like sardines. The CBI team spotted the Santro parked in a narrow lane and mounted a night long vigil over it. They guessed Aquib was somewhere close by, probably with his paramour, and would emerge soon. Sure enough, a young man came to the car the following morning. He began to drive through the congested lanes, negotiating his way through countless rickshaws, handcarts and pedestrians. Inspector Jagdish Prasad, even though sleep-deprived, followed the car on foot, often having to break into a sprint. The experienced cop that he was, he wanted to be absolutely sure that it was Aquib on the wheel and none else. He saw the young man stop his car and walk into a photo studio. Prasad and his team intercepted and detained him when he came out. The Inspector went into the studio and checked its register. The last entry made minutes earlier was the name Aquib Ali Khan. We had got the next important link of the chain we were trying to bust.

To be continued…