Salim the Disposable (Tracing the absconder Salim Kurla) continues...


Salim Kurla, a trusted and loyal aide, who had played a role in the conspiracy behind the serial blasts in Bombay, had, with passage of time, become an irritant with his persistent demands for money and more money. That was the time the two brothers—Dawood Ibrahim and Anees Ibrahim—asked their trusted aide (Raman’s mole) to tip off the police and have Kurla arrested. However, as the impending raid and Kurla’s nemesis drew closer, the two brother dons - had second thoughts. They fondly recalled the risks Salim had taken in the past in their service. They also thought of Salim’s wife and their three children. Anees himself called up Salim and asked him to run, as quickly as he could. Salim had left the same morning and, presumably, would have by then travelled hundreds of miles away.

Besides being deeply disappointed, other mundane but serious ‘official’ worries haunted me. I could foresee the problems that awaited me back in Delhi. I had verbally given my approval to Satish Jha for the air-travel of Raman Tyagi and D.K. Pardesi, who were not entitled to fly. As per official norms, as a DIG, I l was not competent to do so. At the time of giving the go-ahead to Satish Jha for his officers’ air-travel, I was reasonably sure that the operation would succeed, in which case there would be no difficulty in getting the necessary approvals from my bosses ex-post facto. But, the operation had failed even before it had begun. Raman had to hear all this and much more from me, speaking in not the most pleasant of tones. With dropping shoulders and head bowed, he stood before Satish and me crestfallen and guilt-ridden. I rubbed it in by letting him know that I had left important work in Delhi and travelled unnecessarily to Hyderabad, thanks to his half-baked intelligence input.

Having given adequate vent to my disappointment and anguish, I now had to decide what to do next.

To be continued.....