‘The one sitting on Sethji’s chair, with short hair, long sideburns and cropped moustache, is the elder son Alok Changulani. And the one sitting in front of him, with curly hair, clean-shaven face and a soul patch beard is the younger one, Ashok Changulani.’
‘So they will run the store now?’
‘No, they will go back to England after selling it.’
‘Oh!’
‘That was the first declaration they made after coming here this morning.’
‘What will happen to all these employees?’
‘It would sure be bad if the new owner did not want them to continue. And it is also possible that the new owner may like to run a new business and not the department store here.’
‘What new business?’
‘Man, this property is on such a prime location. One could think of running a hundred new business ventures here.’
‘You are right. In that case, it was imminent for my uncle to go, maybe it was now or later!’
‘Yes, you’re right there.’
‘Had he ever given a hint that he wanted to retire?’
‘No, never. I asked the same question to many people after coming in today and all of them said that he had never given a hint of his willingness to retire. When I mustered some courage and asked the new owners this question, they got very angry. Then the elder one said he had resigned and gone to Ballia, where his ancestral home is. You must know all this?’
‘How can anybody go in such an abrupt manner? One needs to be paid the remaining salary, provident fund needs to be settled, and something called graji- … grajity …’
‘Gratuity.’
‘Yes, the same. How could Uncle leave so suddenly without claiming all this?’
‘A cheque of such dues can be sent by mail later.’
‘True, but why should he be in such a rush to go to Ballia. I can understand one can leave the job—or can be forced to leave the job—in haste, but there is no point in leaving the city without claiming one’s dues.’
‘What do you want to say?’
‘I want to say that he might yet be in Mumbai.’
‘Yes, that’s quite likely.’
‘I don’t have his Mumbai address, but somebody here might know it. Can you please ask the others? I will be obliged.’
‘Would he be home?’
‘What’s the harm in finding out? If he is home, my hotel expenses would be saved.’
‘How did you come to Mumbai?’
‘I came to Pune for some work. When it was over, I thought I’d come here and meet him.’
‘Oh!’
‘So, Uncle’s local address … it must be in the store record here?’
‘I … I will find out.’
‘And his mobile number also, please.’
‘Mobile number?’
‘These days everybody carries a mobile, no?’
‘Yes. I will go find out.’
‘Thanks.’
He came out from behind the stall and went in somewhere.
Jeet Singh stayed there and watched both brothers from the distance.
The fellow came back in five minutes, and handed Jeet Singh a folded slip of paper.
‘Thanks a lot,’ he said in a grateful tone, ‘what’s your name, sir?’
‘Kapil, Kapil Khirwar.’
‘Thanks a lot, Khirwar sahib.’
He smiled and bowed his head in acceptance.
Jeet Singh came out of the store and straightened the slip.
A mobile number and an address for Railway Colony, Parel was written on it.
He dialled the number.
‘This number is not in use,’ came the machine-generated reply.
He reached Parel.
He knew it wouldn’t be of any use, but still he wanted to be sure.
The quarter mentioned in the address was locked.
He knocked at the door of the quarter next to it.
An unbathed man in a lungi and vest opened the door, smoking a cigarette.
‘What do you want?’ he asked in a harsh voice.
‘That Tiwariji,’ Jeet Singh said, ‘who is in the quarter next door …’
‘He left.’
‘Left! When is he expected back?’
‘He won’t be back. He has left for good. He has vacated the quarter.’
‘Suddenly?’
‘Yes, suddenly. I am also surprised. The guy returned Monday night, and left the place Tuesday morning.’
‘Where has he gone?’
‘Who knows!’
‘But when he locked the quarter …’
‘No, the quarter was locked by the owner who is a railway employee. He had rented a room to that Tiwari. How can a tenant lock the quarter when he has left the place for good?’
‘Sorry! So, you have no idea why he left suddenly and where has he gone?’
‘No, I don’t have any idea. Now stop chewing at my brain.’
He shut the door in Jeet Singh’s face.
The call bell rang.
Alok looked at Ashok.
Both of them had just returned from Lamington Road.
‘I’ll answer the door,’ Ashok said.
‘The maid would have heard the bell. She will answer the door in a while.’
‘What’s the big deal, let me do it.’
Ashok reached the main door and opened it. A look at the man standing there sent shivers down his spine.
Arthur Finch!
Enforcer of the casino, a giant of a man entrusted with the task of forcefully recovering money from defaulting gamblers.
Just this Wednesday, he had given him a thorough beating, and three broken ribs.
‘Hello!’ the enforcer said in a terrifying voice. ‘What’s the good news for me?’
‘There is none as of now,’ Ashok said in a meek tone.
‘Get aside.’
‘Don’t be silly, all members of the family are present in the house.’
‘I want to talk.’
‘This is not the place for that. Go to the parking downstairs, I’ll come there.’
‘ok, but I will wait only for five minutes. Then I will be back here.’
‘I will be with you in five minutes.’
Ashok closed the door.
He was terrified. So much so that he could not hide it. Last Wednesday he had reached there in a similar manner and thrashed him badly. Before that, Ashok could never imagine that the enforcer of that London casino he owed money to would reach Mumbai following him, and also find him in no time.
That Wednesday, he suddenly appeared before him, like a ghost.
By that time Finch had collected all the necessary information about him.
‘Your father is filthy rich,’ he had said then. ‘Tell him everything, ask him to give you the money, or else you are finished.’
‘He won’t listen,’ Ashok had implored.
‘He will listen. No parents want their children to die young. And it is for the children that they earn money.’
‘But …’
‘No buts. Work on this line or I work on you.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I will finish you, as per my orders.’
‘You won’t get your money back by doing that.’
‘Yes, I won’t. But once the reason for your death becomes known in London, nobody would dare to even think of not repaying the casino’s dues like you.’
‘ok, I will talk to Papa.’
‘That’s like a good boy. Your decision saved a life—your own. Now I have to partially damage this freshly saved life of yours,’ he had said while taking out his heavy buckled belt from the jeans.
He shivered visibly while entering the lift—as if that partial damage had been inflicted not on Wednesday but that very moment.
He reached downstairs.
Finch was standing in the parking leaning against a car, smoking a cigarette. He threw the cigarette and straightened up after seeing him.
‘You bar
ely made it,’ he said in a stern voice, glancing at his watch.
‘One lift is out of order,’ Ashok mewled, ‘and the second one took time in reaching the tenth floor.’
‘Never mind. So what’s the inheritance situation?’
‘It’s the same as before.’
‘You don’t say.’
‘Such things take time. Day after tomorrow or the next day, our lawyer will appear before the civil judge to represent us for the succession certificate. And I don’t know how much time it will take to actually get the certificate.’
‘How much time will it take once the certificate is issued?’
‘Selling the property will also take some time. Then the money will be distributed among the heirs. Only after all this can I pay back your money.’
‘I can’t wait that long.’
‘Then don’t wait. Go back to London. I will also return there once I get the money. I can’t go elsewhere, my house, my restaurant, everything is there.’
‘I can’t trust you. If you get out of sight this time, who knows where you will land next—Addis Ababa or Timbuktu. I don’t want that. I’ll prefer being your shadow.’
‘You have to wait then.’
‘That bloody lawyer of yours, why can’t he finish the formalities early?’
‘He has to make preparations, do his homework.’
‘Look, chum, if you are handing me a line, you will be sorry.’
‘No, I am not, everything I am saying is true.’
‘Fine, I will wait then.’
‘Thanks.’
‘How is your body?’
‘It is not well. There is severe pain and swelling all over.’
‘And ribs?’
‘Still broken, under the plaster.’
‘How many were broken?’
‘Three.’
‘Good. So the partial damage will remain in your memory for long.’
‘Yes.’
‘Fine, I will come on Saturday.’
‘But how will I arrange the money by then?’
‘I won’t come for the money, dumb ass. I will come to know what happened in the court.’
‘Oh!’
‘I will leave now.’
Finch waved his oversized fist in front of Ashok as a gesture of warning, and left.
Ashok shivered once again. It was only after Finch had gone was he assured that he would not get beaten this time.
Jeet Singh reached Gailo’s favourite bewra adda in Jambuwadi at eight in the evening.
This time Gailo was sitting alone at a table there.
He shook Jeet Singh’s hand with great warmth.
‘You have not started drinking yet!’ Jeet Singh said, sitting in front of him.
‘I was waiting for you.’
‘You are sitting alone tonight!’
‘Same reply for this question too—I was waiting for you.’
‘Accept my thanks. Now, did you do anything about the supari killer angle I told you about this morning?’
‘Yes, I have told all my driver friends to spread the word in the underground. Will let you know if I get any information from these sources.’
‘Do you think something will come up?’
‘Be assured, if there is any truth in this angle, then we will get to know of it. I have spread the word that somebody needed that guy for a similar job, because he did such a perfect job in handling the Sindhi department store seth.’
‘Oh!’
‘If it is really a supari killing, we will come to know of it, but it will take some time. And if it’s not a supari killing, then also we will get to know about it, but that too will take some time.’
‘No problem.’
‘Have you made your preparations regarding tomorrow’s task?’
‘Don’t worry. I just need to pick up my tools from the hiding place. You consider it done.’
‘We have to be there tomorrow night at ten.’
‘ok, but Gailo, I have a gut feeling.’
‘Tell me.’
‘There might be electronic surveillance in the vault.’
‘What survey … lens …?’
‘The place could be under closed-circuit cameras.’
‘I still don’t get it.’
‘Arre, try to understand. Haven’t you seen moving cameras in banks, big showrooms, jewellery shops and shopping malls which record everything and show it on a tv screen? One person could keep watch on the live footage of six to eight such cameras at a time and keep an eye on everything. The footage is also recorded in case a need arises to go through it. So many thieves and burglars have been arrested after or during the theft because of such cameras.’
‘As just last week, four armed robbers went to rob a bank in Virar! The police later scanned the video footage recorded by such cameras and all were identified and arrested. I saw this on a tv news channel.’
‘Now you get my point.’
‘So you think there could be such an arrangement at Premier Vault Service?’
‘Yes, and if such an arrangement is there, then we could be arrested despite being successful in taking the suitcase from the vault.’
Gailo started looking worried.
‘But,’ he said after a while, ‘that private vault is bloody hundred per cent customer friendly. When there is no enquiry, no record, no paperwork for renting a vault, then how can there be such a bloody system of surveillance?’
‘It would be great if it is not there, but we need to be sure.’
‘Yes, you are right, but I still have my doubts that such a thing would be there.’
‘There may be a government order for that. The people who run such places can be admonished by even the police to have an adequate installation of closed-circuit cameras. Such government orders have to be complied with.’
‘Oh!’
‘So, our arrest would only be a matter of time if the cameras record us opening somebody else’s locker.’
‘But arrests are made on complaints, on registration of FIRs. Who will do that? The smuggler, the narcotics dealer, or the buyer of such items?’
‘Maybe they will not take that recourse, but identification won’t be a problem for them if the recordings are made. Then the recordings may fall in the hands of the people whose stuff has been looted. Then what will be your fate, Gailo? What will be the fate of Jeet Singh? They will be after us like hounds once they get to know it is us who have hit their system. And you think they will let us remain alive then? Or will give us two slaps on the kisser and say—never do that again, kids?’
‘No.’
‘So, then?’
‘Why did this bloody camera angle never come to my mind before?’
‘It did come after all. There is still time. You are their customer, you can find out what’s the situation there.’
‘That I will do but, Jeete, suppose the cameras are there?’
‘Then we have to make some arrangement so that those cameras do not record anything for those ten minutes when we are there opening the vault.’
‘How will that happen?’
‘I think there would be only one camera in the vault, and that one camera can somehow be out of order, or stop functioning for ten minutes.’
‘My question still stands—how will that happen?’
‘It will happen through that Malayali clerk you have conspired with for this purpose. He will help us.’
‘His character is exposed—he is such a greedy fellow—sure he can help us but when he asked for 20,000 rupees for simple information about the time of operation of a particular locker, he may ask for at least one peti for this work.’
‘He may ask for one lakh rupees, but that doesn’t mean he will get one lakh rupees. He asked for twenty last time and you brought it down to twelve by bargaining with him. Do it again. In fact, bargain harder this time, because we don’t have easy money to give him as of now.’
‘Won’t he ask why we wanted the camera out of action for ten minutes?�
��
‘Why would he when he’ll charge for the service? Did he ask at the time of the first deal why you wanted information about the operation of locker number 243?’
‘No, he did not; but can’t he guess there’s some foul play?’
‘He can keep guessing, if he doesn’t know precisely what the foul play is.’
‘Jeete, giving out the information regarding the operation of a locker is a petty thing. But turning off a camera in the premises for a set period is a big thing. It won’t go unnoticed. Then the blame for it would be squarely put on the man on duty. No,’ he shook his head forcefully, ‘I don’t think that man will take such a huge risk.’
‘Arre, we don’t even know for sure if cameras are installed there.’
‘What if they are?’
‘Then he will himself tell us whether our job is worthy of his taking the risk or not.’
‘Hmm.’
‘No system is just right, just fit …’
‘You mean to say no system is perfect!’
‘Yes, any machine made by men is subject to malfunction, no matter how perfectly it was made. And if this is true, then why can’t a camera installed in a vault service stop working and why can’t locating the error and correcting it take ten minutes?’
‘But won’t other people suspect why it malfunctioned for those specific ten minutes?’
‘How will they know what specific is going to happen during which ten minutes?’
‘Yes, you have a point there.’
‘If that is so then the camera can go out of order, it can go out of order without any rhyme or reason. That Malayali clerk will also understand this and may not demand a very high price for this work.’
Gailo pondered over it for a while.
‘Gailo, you have a ready-made excuse for saying you wanted the camera to shut off for ten minutes.’
‘And what is that?’
‘You don’t want to be interrupted, to be disturbed for ten minutes because you have to transfer some delicate items one by one to your locker. So, you need the camera to be off for those ten minutes because you don’t want the camera to record what items you were transferring to the locker.’
‘But when everything is being recorded …’
‘Not everything. Whatever material comes there, it comes packed. Does the first party, that comes with the briefcase, open the briefcase before putting it in locker number 243 so that the camera may record whether the briefcase contained narcotics, or diamonds or watches?’
The Colaba Conspiracy Page 11