Baitha hai, sir, baitha hai!’(‘‘‘He is sitting there, Sir, he is there!’’’)( The Netting of Punjab CM’s assassin) continues....

‘‘‘Sir, please believe me and let us check out one more place’’’, he pleaded with folded hands. Most reluctantly I agreed to follow him. He took us to a different part of Safdarjung Enclave and left us at a safe distance. He went to check out on another place where, he thought, the terrorist could be possibly hiding. He returned soon trembling like a leaf, soaked in perspiration, fear writ large on his face. He murmured almost inaudibly, ‘‘‘Baitha hai Sir, baitha hai (he is sitting there sir, he is actually there)!’’’ We broke up into ones and twos. He guided us stealthily, and took us to a small single-storey municipal market built in the shape of a U. He disappeared after giving us the name of a travel agency located in the market where, according to him, our quarry sat.

The travel agency was nowhere to be seen in the U-shaped market. It seemed like yet another red-herring. Just then Constable Dharambir Singh of my team noticed an independent toilet block at one end of the U shaped market. Between the toilet block and the adjacent tip of the U, there was a narrow and inconspicuous passage. It could easily be missed by anyone not familiar with the topography of the place. Dharambir felt there might be shops at the rear of the building which could be accessed through the passage. I asked ASI Anchal Singh and Dharambir to go in advance and check. They came back in no time to confirm that indeed there were shops at the rear and one of them was the office of the travel agency we were looking for.

Four of us approached the shop discreetly and found that the glass exterior of the shop was tinted and opaque. A decision in such situations defies logic and thought. ASI Anchal Singh, Constable Dharambir Singh, Constable Surinder Singh and I barged into the shop almost spontaneously, each on his own yet together as a team.

To be continued…