22 Yards of deceit continues...........

I returned to the CBI Headquarters later in the afternoon and reported details of my meeting with MK to my superiors. Needless to say, the bosses were elated. The riddle the organization had been struggling to solve seemed relatively simple now. I was asked to take over the enquiry but I politely declined. I told them I was already snowed under work and would be happy to hand over MK to my colleague supervising the enquiry.

To tell the readers the truth,whenever a case or enquiry is transferred to a team from one already dealing with it, it always results in bad blood. During my career, I have been confronted with similar situations several times when I was asked to take over cases investigated by other officers as my team, per chance, had made a breakthrough in those cases. But I have scrupulously avoided creating any ill-feeling or malice by usurping cases or credit which, in the normal course, was not mine.

The following day, Ravi Sawani, the Joint Director heading the Cricket Match Fixing enquiry by the CBI, accompanied me to Hotel Oberoi at a pre-scheduled time. I introduced Ravi to MK with his avalanche of information and left. The days to follow were of Ravi Sawani’s team making headlines day after day. Media frenzy overtook the cricketing world as those named by MK, big or small, were called one by one to the CBI headquarters on Lodhi Road for questioning. All through the day, hordes of TV cameras and reporters lined up outside the entrance to the Headquarters. Anyone called for questioning had to wade through the media glare, much like celebrities walking the red carpet at Cannes!

To be continued.......