""Ayeessa Kya?" (Is it so?)" continues...

The calling number was that of a PCO near Jama Masjid, a historical mosque in Old Delhi around which a congested and chaotic residential/commercial area thrives.

Even though the calling number had been traced, I felt it was necessary to confirm that all earlier calls were also made from the same number. This was only possible by reading the digital data tapes of the Daryaganj Exchange. I was advised by Sunil Saxena, Deputy General Manager, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited, Janpath to get in touch with the General Manager (Computers) of MTNL. When contacted, GM (Computers) acted indifferent and unhelpful. He wanted us to write a letter to him to which he would respond in a fortnight. All efforts made by my junior officers to explain the urgency of the matter failed. However, we were not to give up without a fight. He was given a mild rap on his knuckles and made to realize that to decline a request from the CBI might not be the best thing for him to do. Consequently, the tapes from Daryaganj Exchange reached the Computer Centre in Nehru Place, South Delhi the very next day where they were read electronically. It was confirmed that all earlier calls to Ahmedabad numbers were indeed made from the same Public Call Office (PCO) in Jama Masjid. Now we were hot on the trail of Abdul Latif. In all probability, he would use the same PCO again and, therefore, could be nabbed when he made the next extortion call to Ahmedabad.

Immediately, an officer from ATS (Gujarat) A.K. Jadeja, Deputy Superintendant of Police (DSP) was called. M.K. Bhat, DSP, CBI and Jadeja together reached the Public Call Office located at Churilwalan in the Jama Masjid area of Old Delhi, where the calling telephone number 3281096 was located. They found it situated in an extremely congested by-lane of Jama Masjid and to mount any kind of watch on the PCO was quite out of the question.


To be continued...