Rakesh Srivastav had himself come down from Hyderabad to arrest Amit. The warrant was issued late last night and Rakesh Srivastav had flown to Mumbai the same night to execute the warrant. The irony was that even Amit was on the same flight to Mumbai the previous night.
‘Ya Amit, you were saying that we are not to be blamed,’ Aditya restarted the discussion after the temporary intrusion.
‘That’s correct Aditya.’
‘What if I say we are?’
‘Sorry?’
‘What if I say we are?’
Amit couldn’t believe his ears. ‘Aditya, this is not the time to joke. I returned last night from Hyderabad after taking stock at the ground level. I have no reason to believe that our team is at fault.’
‘Amit, I am sorry, I couldn’t see you earlier, but I was in Hyderabad this morning. And I think we have nailed the issue.’
‘You were in Hyderabad?’
‘Hmm . . .’
‘Why? Why did you have to go?’
‘I knew this was serious and could blow up. We have never faced such a situation in the bank. So I decided to go there myself. Went with Manish.’
‘Manish who? Kakkar?’
‘Yup. He came in directly from Singapore.’
‘You should have told me. I would have stayed back in Hyderabad.’
‘And would have got arrested there. At least we have some say in Mumbai. Who would have helped you there? Jails in Hyderabad are worse.’
It brought a smile back on Amit’s face. Chanda remained frozen. She didn’t like the looks of whatever was going on. She wanted the nightmare to end soon. She had picked up some food for Amit on the way. She opened the packets and they sat down on a bench in a secluded corner of the police station.
Amit was wondering what was it that Aditya knew and he didn’t. How was it that he always knew more than the others? Maybe that’s why he was the CEO. ‘I did not know Manish Kakkar was in Hyderabad,’ he said to Aditya, but the latter did not react.
Aditya guessed the thoughts in Amit’s mind. ‘Don’t worry. Eat first. I will tell you the story. You might be hungry. Your brain normally reacts slowly when hungry.’
‘Will he get out of jail Aditya?’ Chanda queried.
‘I am not the judge lady, but I can tell you it looks like he will tomorrow.’
‘I am confident he will.’ Ravi Subramanian had just walked in with Naik. ‘There is no case against him. It’s a knee-jerk reaction by a desperate government wanting to capitalise on this calamity for electoral gains. They want to sensationalise this issue and we will not let them party out of someone’s misery.’
‘Hi Ravi! Meet the man, Amit Sharma.’ And then he looked at Amit, ‘Amit, the man here holds the key to your fortune. So better be nice to him.’
For once Amit smiled and acknowledged him.
‘Our papers are ready for filing, early tomorrow morning. We get to go first tomorrow. Have informal confirmations on this from the court. Hopefully you should be out of here by early afternoon tomorrow.’
‘What will be our defence?’
‘We will argue on the grounds that you in Mumbai cannot be held accountable for a transactional lapse that may have happened in Hyderabad, even if for a moment you assume that there was a lapse. You don’t even know the customer or his family. Incidentally, we have heard that similar warrants have been issued against people holding your position in Citibank, GE and other organisations too. Heads of all organisations which gave out loans to Tulsiram are in the dock. But those guys got wind of this early and they went into hiding. Their petitions are also coming up tomorrow.’
‘Oh . . . OKAY.’ This sounded reassuring to Amit. He was not alone in this.
‘We will also ask for evidence on the basis of which they have issued this warrant. I know that they don’t have any. I have also spoken with Rakesh Srivastava. Met him outside the police station. He is not too keen to oppose the motion.’ He then looked at Chanda. ‘I presume she is the wife. You can sleep well tonight madam.’ He looked at his watch and added, ‘Whatever is left of it.’ And there were smiles all around.
Ravi Subramanian needed some signatures from Amit on the court documents. Once they were done, he wished both of them and went back home. He needed some sleep before the courts opened. Normally in such a case, he would have sent his assistant. However, after meeting both Amit and Chanda, he decided to go himself.
Aditya sat down with the two of them after the lawyers and Naik had left.
‘Aditya, you were saying something about us being at fault?’
‘Oh yes. It’s crazy. But we could have an issue on our hands in Hyderabad.’
And he started telling them the entire story and what he had found out about the Hyderabad incident. It left Chanda speechless and Amit looked surprised too.
‘It’s therefore important to back the right people,’ Aditya said. ‘I will always back you my friend. I have said that in the past and will say it again. You will never find me letting you down.’ And he walked away. He was close to the jail door when he turned back. ‘And Amit, my wife never believed me. She thinks all along I batted for you, for my own gains. Sometimes yes, I did it for my benefit, but at other times, I wanted to genuinely see you prosper. I hired you in the bank didn’t I? My wife never believed me when I told her this. And . . .’ He paused. ‘I think your wife here doesn’t believe me too. I will ensure both of you do well in life . . . God bless,’ and he turned and walked away.
‘Was that the shine in his eyes or were there tears in them?’
‘Maybe both,’ said Chanda as she rested her head on Amit’s shoulders. Both of them sat there holding hand-in-hand, on that solitary, hard bench. The station staff didn’t harass them or ask Chanda to go back. Amit was not asked to move back into the cell. They just let them be. Naik and Rakesh Srivastav had given instructions not to hassle them.
Neither of them got a wink of sleep that night. It was the second sleepless night in succession for Amit. They were just waiting for daybreak, so that they could go back home, back to the safe confines of their four walls.
Epilogue
20 December 2007
Hyderabad
Manish Kakkar landed in Hyderabad in the wee hours of the morning. The Singapore Airlines SQ 187 was late by an hour. By the time he reached his hotel it was well past 2 a.m.
The check-in counter at the Grand Kakatiya had a message for him. It was from Aditya. ‘Call me when you reach. Irrespective of the time. I am in room No 1209.’ He knew that Aditya was also staying in the same hotel.
‘Will call him from my room,’ he said to himself as he made his way to his fourth floor room. Aditya’s suite was on the more anointed and exclusive twelfth floor. He was the boss and an executive suite was his privilege.
Aditya picked up the phone on the first ring. He had been waiting for Manish to call. ‘Come up to my room. I need to see you right away.’ When he heard this, Manish took the lift to the twelfth floor and walked up to the room at the far end of the corridor. The door was open. He walked straight in.
‘Hi Manish, how have you been my friend?’
‘Great Aditya, what’s going on?’ asked Manish while he surveyed the room. The TV in Aditya’s room was playing the news hour on CNN. An inane newsreader was mumbling something which was related to a red band at the bottom of the screen that screamed ‘Breaking News’.
‘Oh. Another car bomb in Iraq has blasted seventy-four people.’
‘No Aditya. I was asking about what’s going on in Hyderabad? You called me in such a hurry. I just hopped on to the first available flight. I knew that there would be an emergency. Else, you wouldn’t call me in this manner. What happened?’
‘Manish, years back, when you guys were just setting off on your career, there was a collections disaster. We had repossessed a wrong car that had caused nuisance to someone who hadn’t even borrowed from us. That hit the front pages of the Wall Street Journal hours before our annual results were to be d
eclared.’
‘Yes. I know the story.’
‘It cost the key people in the company their jobs and extreme loss of face for the organisation. Some even went to the extent of saying that the timing of the story was dictated by our competitors, with the sole intention of embarrassing NYB.’
‘I know.’
‘We seem to be heading towards a similar disaster again.’
‘You are obviously referring to the Marriott driver suicide case. What’s the development there? Are we clean?’
‘Manish, it does not matter whether you are clean or not. What matters is what the public perceives and what the media states.’ Manish nodded in response.
‘A day after this guy committed suicide, the family too committed suicide. The wife and the four children. She poisoned the children before killing herself. This has already blown up in India. Somehow I get a feel that the international media will step into this very soon. I am sure they will . . . sooner than later.’
‘I am aware Aditya.’
‘I know. I had sent across the incident report to our Singapore office as a matter of routine escalation. However, I do not believe the stories that everyone around is telling me. Everyone is telling me that we are on the right side in this entire episode. But I am not convinced. My job and the organisation’s reputation is at stake. I want to get to the bottom of this myself. In such a situation I don’t trust anyone around. And that’s why I called you. Remember this is in Amit’s line of command. Ideally I would have got him to sort it out for me, but given that he might be the impacted party and might have a vested interest in not bringing out the truth, it is important that we do this on our own. An independent perspective always helps.’
‘OKAY. So, what do you expect of me?’
‘Let me tell you the story in its entirety . . . as we know it . . .’ and Aditya began narrating the entire sequence of events. He told him about everything that had happened over the past few days in Hyderabad.
‘Aditya, a question,’ said Manish when Aditya paused for breath. ‘Isn’t Tulsiram a customer who has paid all his dues? I was told that all his payments have been made and there is no overdue? That’s what the initial incident report said.’
‘Yes Manish. You are right. However, here’s why I do not trust what is being told to me.’ And he handed Manish a sheet of paper. ‘I have a small concern here. Don’t know if anyone else has picked it up yet. But here, look at his statement of accounts.’
Manish looked carefully at the document given by Aditya. It was a loan account statement of Tulsiram.
Date Narration Debit Credit Balance
1st August 08 Balance Outstanding 46956
5th August 08 Cheque payment 1979
6th August 08 Cheque returned unpaid 1979
22nd August 08 Cash payment received 1979 46591
5th September 08 Cheque payment 1979
6th September 08 Cheque returned unpaid 1979
29th September 08 Cash payment received 1979 46213
5th October 08 Cheque payment 1979
6th October 08 Cheque returned unpaid 1979
31st October 08 Cash payment received 1979 45823
5th November 08 Cheque payment 1979
6th November 08 Cheque returned unpaid 1979
30th November 08 Cash payment received 1979 45419
5th December Cheque payment 1979 45001
‘Cheque returned unpaid means that the cheque which was presented has bounced,’ said Aditya even as he looked at Manish and winked.
‘Aditya!’ The drag on the last few alphabets was a conscious one. ‘I have worked in India for over a decade, long enough to know that,’ said Manish. Aditya was just having some fun.
Manish went through the statement and looked up at Aditya. ‘He has bounced each of his last four instalments.’
‘Yes. Except for the December instalment cheque, which he has paid on time. The ones for August, September, October and November have bounced.’
‘Not only that. He has also paid up in cash every month before the month end. In August he paid early, but in the later three months he has paid dot on the last day of the month.’
‘What does that show?’ asked Aditya.
‘That the collections team has been pushing him aggressively and getting him to make these payments before the end of the month,’ Manish replied.
‘In other words these are customers who have a habit of bouncing their cheques but are easy to collect from, with a little bit of follow up. A debt collector’s delight, right?’
‘Yes Aditya. That’s what it looks like. I would also assume that he is a low risk customer as we have been able to repeatedly and successfully collect his dues from him. And you are bang on . . . collectors normally like to deal with customers like these.’
‘Agreed. What you are saying could be right. One of the possibilities,’ said Aditya.
‘What else could it be? You are obviously thinking of something else.’ Manish was now beginning to wonder what he meant. ‘What’s on your mind Aditya?’
‘It could be that instead of him, someone else is making the payment on his behalf?’
‘Who could it be? And why would someone make a payment on his behalf? Unless you are implying a fraud in the system.’
‘Yes Manish. Do you think that could be an option?’
‘Hmm . . .’ Manish began to ponder. ‘That could be serious.’ He couldn’t say anything else.
‘If you go back to Tulsiram’s loan repayment, he has bounced his check in the past, before August too, but never with such regularity. Often, he has paid much before the 30th. Look at August. He paid on 22 August. Prior to that he bounced his cheque in May, but paid almost immediately. On 13 May. The trend in the last three months is strange. Every month he has paid dot on the last day of the month. Why? The cash payments on the same day is too much of a coincidence.’
‘I can investigate and find out if your suspicion is true,’ added Manish.
‘I know. Normally, the only way to check this is to call the customers and check if they have in fact made these payments on the last day of the month. But in this case, there is no way in which we can get in touch with Tulsiram. Unfortunately, Vodafone’s network didn’t follow him where he went.’
Manish smiled.
‘If what I suspect is true, it could be a serious fraud, a big controls lapse and we could be up shit creek,’ Aditya continued.
‘What would you want me to do in this?’
‘I want you to get to the bottom of this. Find out who is responsible, who is screwing up. Find out if at all we had a role to play in abetting the suicide, directly or indirectly. Can anyone link it back to NFS? Do it carefully. I don’t want too many eyebrows to be raised. There are not many people who I can trust in this situation. I want you to do it for me. Can you?’
‘How much time do we have for this?’
‘Twelve hours.’
‘What? Twelve hours?’ Manish was shocked. It was too short a time frame.
‘I am here in Hyderabad for a meeting with the chief minister on a SEZ project funding. Taking the evening flight to Mumbai. I need the report by the time I leave. You don’t need to give me a written report. Just let me know your findings. Actually, I think I know what the story is. I just want someone to validate this.’
‘Can I get Amit involved?’
‘You must be kidding my friend. If he was required, why would I fly you in from Singapore?’
‘Got it. Will do my best to close it today.’
‘Here are all the papers I have got. I will expect your call tomorrow evening . . . actually this evening. You have my authority to do whatever you want. Call upon whoever you want. Interrogate who ever you choose to. Do what it takes. At the end of the next twelve hours, I want to know if there has been a screw up and if indeed there has been one, I want to know who is responsible. The person responsible for the screw-up needs to go. Whether it is Amit, whether it is Victor, I don’t care. I will go by what
you tell me.’
‘I will call you in the evening.’
‘Better still, if you have nothing else to do in Hyderabad, take the evening flight back to Mumbai along with me. I will ask my secretary to book you on the same flight.’
Manish nodded. He knew that now the twelve hour deadline was cast in concrete. He had no means of extending it.
Manish was awake the whole night . . . reading all the documents that Aditya had given him, trying to digest the information and form his own views on what could have happened. For a moment he browsed over the fact that Aditya could have called Amit to do what he was asking Manish to do. Why didn’t he? Maybe Aditya did not like him as much as he did earlier. Were there any issues between them? Probably he didn’t trust Amit. Anyway it was none of his business. He had to do what was told to him. Period.
By the time he finished going over the sequence of events again and again in his mind – the customer, the amounts due, the instalment paid, the cash on a month end, the suicide and then the mass suicide, the public frenzy and the resultant political involvement – the phone in his room rang. He picked it up. Who could it be at this hour?
‘Good morning sir. This is a wake up call for you.’ What the hell? A look at his watch told him that it was already 6.30 in the morning, and he hadn’t slept even for a minute. Aditya had given him only twelve hours. He quickly showered and was ready by 7.15 a.m. Sleep could wait. He rushed down to the coffee shop for breakfast.
Before leaving Aditya’s room, he had sent a message to Victor, to be in the hotel by 7 a.m. He knew that Victor was an early riser and hence would definitely see the message and be with him at seven.
As he had expected, Victor was waiting for him at the lobby. ‘Hi Manish. How come in Hyderabad? A surprise visit?’ Victor had not expected Manish to be in Hyderabad. As a matter of fact, Manish was known to be a poor traveller and wouldn’t visit his operative locations even during his stint as a head of credit at NFS.
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