“The Return Gift (Arrest and Deportation of Roshan Ansari)” continues…

It was just not possible for any outsider to go into the area without being spotted out by local residents, who guarded their turf fiercely. The CBI team, therefore, had to tread with caution and adopt out of the box methodologies. DS Shukla got hold of the local telephone lineman and accompanied him to the premises under the ruse of inspecting the telephone. They found the premises, got to meet Roshan’s mother and confirmed that the landline was indeed the right number. Also, quite expectedly, the fugitive was not there.

With prior permission, the said telephone was put under surveillance. For days no calls from Roshan were received and neither was any conversation about her overheard. Clearly, she was observing all precautions to evade us.

The Dubai Police, meanwhile, was getting restive. Both Virendra and I received numerous calls from them, eager to know the progress made by us. Roshan’s husband Kabanji was building immense pressure on the local authorities to arrest the murderess of his grown up daughter from his first wife. He had,, in the interim, helped the police recover Roshan’s diary from her residence in Dubai. It had a Bangalore address scrawled on it. Virendra requested Pratap Reddy, a Superintendent of Police posted in the CBI office at Bangalore, to verify the address. Reddy was hesitant as the area was communally sensitive and required assistance from the local police.

The United Arab Emirates, of which Dubai is a part, has a consulate in Mumbai. A senior official of the Consulate visited Virendra’s office to impress upon him the significance of getting Roshan fast as it was in the best interest of healthy diplomatic relations between the UAE and India. Virendra assured him that all possible efforts were underway. Anxiety levels in the Ministry of External Affairs, Ministry of Home Affairs and the CBI were getting higher, even though it was early days. Both Virendra and I were feeling the heat already.