"Athithi Devo Bhawa (Guest is God)" continues...

However, Liyaqat, when questioned, disclosed that the ‘Mike’ we were looking for was somebody else by the name of Lalit Aggarwal. Both Lalit and he worked together in the ‘Lapka Gang’ and both shared the assumed name of ‘Mike’. In August 2001, the gang had split with Lalit a.k.a. Mike, Mohammed Mobin a.k.a. Noorie and Sayyed Sadakat Ali a.k.a. Chiku forming a separate gang. Every member of the ‘Lapka’ gang had criminal history and the Jaipur Police had their photographs and dossiers.

The following day (March 13, 2002), Judy, escorted by Scotland Yard detectives and a CBI team led by Ajay Bassi, the Investigating Officer of the case, reached Jaipur. When the photograph of Lalit Aggarwal, obtained from the local police, was shown to her, she immediately identified it to be that of Mike. Similarly, when the mug-shots of Mohammad Mobin and Sadakat Ali were shown, she identified them to be of Noorie and Chiku respectively.

When taken around Jaipur, she retraced her friend Joan’s and her own movement from the bus stop to Evergreen Hotel, pointed out the Cyber Café near the hotel where they had together met Chiku and their route to the first floor shop where they had been detained for over seven hours before being driven to Delhi. Inspector Bassi recorded Judy’s statement and recovered huge amount of documents from the three premises connected with the case. However, as news of CBI’s involvement with investigation of the case spread, Mike, Noorie and Chiku escaped from Jaipur. Further investigation revealed that Mike had fled to Paris, Chiku to Germany and Noorie to Bangkok.

To be continued...