‘If the amount to be paid is more, it could be converted into dollars, pounds or Euros. And it’s a part of the deal that the size of the consignment will be no bigger than what can be paid for through one briefcase of money.’
‘Great! Now, how come you got all this highly confidential info in so little time?’
‘I did not collect all of it in just two days. I knew a bit about this system earlier too, but I did not give it much thought that time.’
‘How did you know about it earlier?’
‘The bewra adda is the best place for noticing such things. People go there, drink and then become careless. They throw caution to the winds and start discussing confidential stuff, and a careful listener could easily figure out what they were talking about. I heard some fellows talking about this a couple of times earlier.’
‘I see.’
‘But the special chance to understand this system came yesterday, when I was drinking with friends at my favourite bewra adda near Edward Cinema.’
‘What friends?’
‘All of them are your friends too—David Pardesi, D’Costa, Shamsi, Pakya. Two fellows on a table close by were discussing this very set-up in hushed voices. Since the man who was doing most of the talking was sitting with his back to me, I could hear all of it and I could fill the earlier gaps.’
‘That’s a big coincidence. The information you wanted came to you automatically, without any effort.’
‘I immediately thanked God Almighty for that.’
‘But weren’t you surprised at this?’
‘What surprise? It was a bewra adda, a public bar … popular … crowded. What’s unusual in this happening there?’
‘Why were they discussing it? What was the reason?’
‘I could not hear it. But it seemed natural that they were planning to lift the merchandise or its payment. Maybe they were just thinking out loud.’
‘And what was the end of it?’
‘I don’t know. One fellow was telling the other about this. Maybe later the other fellow would have worked out a scheme which they would have discussed in the next meeting.’
‘What scheme?’
‘I don’t know. How could I know? I never heard of any scheme.’
‘Alright! Now, suppose you have the info of that set-up, of that special system. So what? What’s your mission?’
‘I want to take revenge on that bastard who snatched my four peti.’
‘And how are you planning to do it?’
‘I will blow it up. I will hit it so hard that the godforsaken set-up will collapse, and his role of go-between in it will be over.’
‘How’ll the set-up collapse?’
‘Arre, yaar, use your brain. A system for the exchange of goods and money is being run. Now if something happens to it, somebody cleans out the stuff or the money, then which idiot would put his faith in it again?’
‘Gailo, you think you could shake that system?’
‘We, not I, could shake that system.’
‘What?’
‘We, Gailo and Jeet Singh, will shake that system. My info and your expertise together can work this out. That’s why I am sitting here.’
‘I don’t understand.’
‘I will make you understand. I will go through the complete info that I have collected.’
‘ok, go ahead.’
‘There is a private vault service in Johri Bazar. The name is Premier Vault Service. Big vault. Five hundred lockers. Followed?’
‘Yes.’
‘They rent lockers without any enquiry. ok?’
‘Yes, but how did you know?’
‘I know by virtue of what I heard at the bewra adda last night and what I heard in bits and pieces on three or four previous occasions.’
‘Oh!’
‘Now let me proceed. Let me conclude it in one go.’
‘ok.’
‘Have you seen that vault?’
‘No, I have just heard about it. For some reason, that pd Navlani fellow told me about it.’
‘Who’s Navlani?’
‘Shekhar Navlani. The pd who was engaged by that Sindhi department store seth to follow me. He saved my life twice—first time in a warehouse at Dharavi, where some goons had tied me to a chair and placed a time bomb in my lap. He was keeping a watch on me and that time he defused the bomb on his client’s orders. The second time was when I tried to commit suicide in the lift of Tulsi Chambers, where that Sindhi seth used to live. I tried to burn myself in a pyre of currency notes there, but he turned up miraculously and saved me. Gailo, that pd fellow knew much more about my misdeeds than you knew as a witness. Not just the robbery, he even knows about the murders I committed. But he is on my side, he sympathizes with me. He’d never try to harm me.’
‘Wait a minute. You’re talking about that same seth who was murdered this Saturday evening?’
‘Yes, the very same person. But you stick to your story.’
‘ok, so where was I? … Yes, I saw that private vault today, in the morning.’
‘While standing in the bazaar?’
‘From the inside … I went to the basement.’
‘You don’t say. Who’d have allowed you into the basement?’
‘Who would have stopped a customer? I went there as a paying customer.’
‘You? You?’
‘You bet! I took a small locker on rent this morning.’
‘You did?’
‘Yes, I have to do my homework if I want revenge. Now, stop looking so amazed and listen to what I saw there … what I noticed there.’
‘I am listening.’
‘There was no paperwork involved in renting a locker there. They don’t ask for any proof of identity or proof of residence, not even the photograph of the locker holder for record. They ask only for a name and address, that too to just write on the receipt. You can give any name and address, they won’t give a damn. They provide lockers on a weekly, monthly and yearly rent. I booked a small locker for one month. Rent 600 rupees.’
‘That much? I have heard that in public sector banks they charge that much for a year!’
‘Maximum 800. But there at Johri Bazar, the shorter the duration, the bigger the rent. One year’s rent for the same locker is 2500 rupees and one week’s rent is 250. But big price, big service. Big service, big price. No?’
‘Yes.’
‘They are open twenty-four hours. Operation permitted round the clock. You can go there at two o’clock in the morning and say you want to operate your locker, they will say “Yes sir”. You can say you want the locker in a special position, of a special size or shape and they will say “Yes sir”. If such a locker is not available, they will get it on order for the customer.’
‘Great!’
‘Jeete, now I am coming to that special part which came to my notice at the bewra adda and for which I collected further information by bribing a clerk in the vault service.’
‘But where did you get all this money from?’
‘I borrowed it from somebody.’
‘From whom?’
‘From a money lender in Mahalaxmi. He gives loan on interest to drivers who have their own taxi.’
‘How much did you borrow?’
‘Thirty,’ Gailo said in a low voice, trying to avoid looking at Jeet Singh.
‘And what’s the interest?’
‘Five percent.’
‘Only five percent for a year?’
‘For a month.’
‘Five percent per month! My God! You have to give 1500 rupees per month as interest to that money lender?’
‘No, he deducts the first month’s interest while lending the money. He gave me twenty-eight thousand and a half for thirty thousand. I need the money for a short duration, which is less than a month. So there is no chance of paying extra interest.’
‘Gailo, you are a bloody fool. You will lose the taxi.’
‘Oh no, brother, that won’t happen …’
‘It wil
l happen. Some day …’
‘Now, lay off. Let me finish what I want to say, and then you won’t say I was an idiot. Then you won’t say I took any big risk by taking the loan.’
Jeet Singh shook his head helplessly.
‘There are two special lockers there that are part of the system our fellow Mangesh Gable has set up. One such locker is four times the size of a small locker i.e. equivalent to four small lockers. Both these large lockers are adjacent to each other and at eye level in the locker cabinet. Their numbers are 243 and 244.’
‘I’ve heard that big lockers are generally in the bottom row of the cabinet.’
‘You heard right. But I told you about the special arrangement, that whatever service a customer asks for is given to him. This customer wanted two adjacent big lockers at eye level. Since big lockers are not located at eye level, they broke four small lockers to make one. I saw it myself; each of them was equal to four small lockers.’
‘Right!’
‘Now, I’m coming to the arrangement which came to my knowledge. Our fellow Mangesh Gable gives the key of locker 243 to the smuggler, seller or whatever you want to call him. Before that, anything that has to be settled between the buyer and the seller has already been settled. The seller puts his goods—drugs, diamonds, watches, mobiles—in a briefcase, and places it in locker number 243 of Premier Vault Service, Johri Bazar. Exactly forty-eight hours later, he is supposed to open the locker and take back his suitcase. When he opens the suitcase at a safe place, he finds in it either his expected payment or his goods.’
‘Goods?’
‘Yes, the goods are subject to evaluation. If the supply is not found up to the mark, it will be returned. But if it is as per the quality agreed upon, then the amount will be paid. So, the forty-eight hour interval is to allow the buyer some time to confirm that the goods are ok. If the goods are found perfect then and there, the payment is also made immediately. But the seller is still expected to come only after forty-eight hours, irrespective of whether the payment was made within twelve hours or twenty-four hours.’
‘And if he goes there before the fixed time?’
‘That would be a useless exercise. How would he know whether the payment happened on time or before time? And suppose the buyer comes to know that he went back before time, then there are chances that he might stop dealing with him.’
‘That’s quite possible.’
‘And then, as they say in the underworld—honesty among thieves, no?’
‘Yes.’
‘Jeete, the beauty of this whole set-up is that the supplier and the buyer need not deal with each other directly. This way, it’s safe for both of them.’
‘But the middleman knows who the buyer is and who the supplier is?’
‘Yes, he does. But he may be getting a commission for his services. Why would he blow this up by naming names?’
‘Aren’t they surprised how the contents of the briefcase changed from a closed locker, for which they had the key?’
‘Maybe they are, but so what? The deal is satisfactorily completed, which is what matters most to them.’
‘I don’t think it’s possible to get two keys for the same locker in good vaults.’
‘That, I don’t know. In these hi-tech times, anything is possible. But as far as this set-up is concerned, it’s the role of the nearby locker 244 that’s interesting. Jeete, the most important thing that I heard at the bewra adda is that on a very special demand from the customer, there is a peculiar setting in this locker. The partition between lockers 243 and 244 collapses, but it is made in such a manner that only the person opening locker number 244 could make it collapse.’
‘Oh!’
‘After the briefcase is placed in locker number 243 as per schedule, the buyer opens 244, folds the partition and takes out the briefcase from locker 243. Later, the briefcase is placed back the same way. The person taking it out from 243 can keep wondering how its contents changed despite being in a closed locker.’
‘I understand the set-up now, but what do you want to do with it?’
‘Shall I speak fearlessly?’
‘Sure, speak up.’
‘I want to hijack that set-up.’
‘I thought so. How do you intend to do it?’
‘You have to open one of the lockers and take the briefcase out.’
‘That too had occurred to me, that you would ask me to do it. But nothing happens by just talking or thinking about it.’
‘It happens by doing.’
‘Who will let us do it? A vault with twenty-four hours service would never be deserted.’
‘Jeete, I know how skilled you are. I am sure you can open the locker within ten minutes and for those ten minutes I assure you that nobody will disturb you or keep a watch on you.’
‘How’s that?’
‘I told you that it’s a private vault, and every sort of service is available there. You ask for it, you pay for it and you have it. I told the management I wanted to move some delicate, intricate items one by one to my locker with full concentration and during that period I didn’t want to be disturbed. And what answer did I get from the manager? “Yes sir, right sir, but it will be charged.”’
‘How much?’
‘Three hundred rupees.’
‘For ten minutes?’
‘Yes.’
‘And if it takes more than that?’
‘That won’t be allowed. No extension. It is not forbidden to stay after ten minutes but our privacy would be gone. But that’s no issue. I am sure that you’d open the locker before ten minutes.’
Jeet Singh kept quiet.
‘The clerk I bribed there will instantly tell me when locker 243 is operated next …’
‘How much did you pay him?’
‘He wanted twenty. I settled for twelve.’
‘Suppose he pockets the money but in return he doesn’t play ball, refuses to recognize you, doesn’t inform you about a damned thing, then what would you do?’
‘It can’t be this way.’
‘And if it indeed happens this way?’
‘It won’t, I gave him only six thousand now. The balance will be paid later.’
‘What’s his name?’
‘Murli Cherat, he is a Mallu.’
‘He will inform you only once?’
‘Yes.’
‘How would you get rid of the goods? Suppose there is heroin or Ecstasy in the briefcase, then what would you do? Would you run through the whole city selling it tablet by tablet, or would you hand it in bulk to somebody? And if there are diamonds in it, then you won’t be able to sell them even one by one. They will catch you the moment you make your first move. Or it’s just that you want their loss, not your profit? You want to teach that middleman a lesson, and for that you are under debt of thirty thousand but you don’t care?’
‘What are you saying, man?’
‘If you approach a fence, he will immediately understand that this here is the consignment of some top smuggler. You are a new fellow, so if that person had a previous good relationship with that smuggler, then your neck would be in his hands and it would be a matter of hours before your body was found floating in the ocean …’
‘What are you saying?’ Gailo raised his voice for the first time. ‘You bloody refuse to listen, refuse to understand!’ He stopped, realized his mistake and said, ‘Sorry, Jeete, I bloody got excited. I’m sorry.’
‘Never mind. But what is it that I refuse to understand?’
‘Our target is the second briefcase, the briefcase with the payment, which would be slipped there later, within forty-eight hours.’
‘Oh! So that clerk you have bribed will tell you about the operation of locker 244 as well?’
‘No, I told you he would inform me only once. But Jeete, our purpose will still be served. We’ll still know that the suitcase with the money will reach the locker within forty-eight hours. All we have to do is to strike within an hour or two of the forty-eight-hou
r limit.’
‘And suppose the goods are rejected, and we get the briefcase with the goods only, then?’
‘Then what? Then I’d consider it my bad luck.’
‘So you will return the briefcase to the locker?’
‘No, we will make it disappear. If the briefcase disappears before the supplier opens it after forty-eight hours then he will think that it’s a problem with the set-up … That the set-up was hijacked. The system will still get blown, and I am happy with that too.’
‘What would you do with the stuff?’
‘We’ll see. But as of now I am praying to St. Francis that everything goes as expected and we get the briefcase with money in it.’
‘Right!’
‘So, what do you say? Can you do this job within ten minutes? I know for sure that you can do it, you can do it within half the time.’
‘You are correct there.’
‘God bless you, boss. So you will do it …’
‘No.’
‘What did you say?’
‘I am going through a rough patch. I was acquitted by the court for lack of evidence and just missed being sentenced by a hair’s breadth. My lawyer also warned me to lie low for some time, to avoid getting into any messes and cross paths with the police. My well-wisher, father figure Eduardo told me to walk the straight and narrow for some time. And whatever limited wisdom I have tells me that I must not get into complicated situations for some time. That’s why I have decided to temporarily stay away from my troublesome line of vault-busting.’
‘What?’
‘I am also leaving my Crawford Market taala-chabi repair spot for some time.’
‘You are leaving your spot, leaving your line of work? What will you do then?’
‘I will drive a taxi, just like you.’
‘You will drive a taxi? But you don’t have a taxi!’
‘I will rent one. Many drivers get taxis on rent, I will do the same.’
‘Jeete, I shouldn’t say this, but nobody will give you a taxi.’
‘Why?’’
‘You won’t like it if I tell you.’
‘No, I will be fine. Tell me.’
‘If you insist. You are an accused in the Super Self-service Store robbery—luck was on your side, you were acquitted—everybody knows that. And everybody knows that you are a safecracker, vault-buster …’
The Colaba Conspiracy Page 3