What the Doctor Ordered Continues ……….

So, I booked a trunk call (as inter-city calls were then called) and passed the information on to Satish. Five years my junior, Satish was a hands-on police officer known for his investigative and operational skills and had been with me on several sensitive missions. He quickly collected his team of handpicked officers and decided to rope in the Mumbai Police, which was just as well. The residents of Mominpura, a sprawling shanty town where the suspect supposedly lived, formed a well-knit community and were not particularly appreciative of governmental agencies—least of all the police—intruding into their territory.
An advance party comprising Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Pramod Mudbhatkal and Inspector Raman Tyagi first tried to locate the charitable hospital in Mominpura but drew a blank. Satish, heading the joint police team of STF and Mumbai Police, did not wish to carry out obtrusive inquiries for fear of crowds gathering and creating a law and order situation. He called me on Gabbar Singh’s office number from a local STD booth in Mominpura to ask if the informant had shared any further information. The informant had by then given details of several landmarks, which I shared with Satish. He and his officers looked for them but could locate neither the charitable hospital nor the doctor’s whereabouts.
By then it was well past midnight and the residents of Mominpura had retired for the day. Except for a few tea stalls and paan shops, all business establishments had closed. The streets were relatively deserted, with stray dogs barking at the alien policemen prowling the area. It had been hours since the search had started. A few passers-by had begun to cast suspicious glances at the CBI men, who were running out of time. Satish was losing patience and getting tense.

To be Continued ………….