The Colaba Conspiracy

by Surender Mohan Pathak

  ‘So what! There’s nothing new about a murder in Mumbai. Why should we be bothered?’

  ‘We should be bothered.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘I identified him the moment I looked at his face in the paper.’

  ‘You know the person whose body has been recovered?’

  ‘Yes, I do. It is Mangesh Gable’s body.’

  ‘Whose?’

  ‘Mangesh Gable’s. The organizer of the Panvel card game, the one who snatched four lakh rupees from me, the middleman of the Johri Bazar set-up. Or to be more precise, the root cause of all my troubles and the person I was seeking revenge from.’

  ‘So this is the guy?’

  ‘Yes. And the news also confirms this fact. It has been clearly written here that one-third of the middle finger of the body’s right hand was missing. The police still haven’t identified the body. The middle finger thing has been published so as to help them in ascertaining the identity.’

  ‘Will you go to the police to identify the body?’

  ‘No, I don’t intend to.’

  ‘In that case, shall we be concerned about the death of this man?’

  ‘Jeete, apply your brain and think. We busted the vault just last night. All of this has come to the notice of the people who ran that system. Imagine how fast they have acted when they fixed the responsibility of the middleman, declared him guilty for the heist and punished him as well, all within hours of the incident. Jeete, now I feel we might have disturbed a major system of big bosses of the underworld. We mistook the snake for a rope. It seems we have bitten off more than we can chew. Imagine what they will do to us if they find out it was all our doing.’

  ‘Gailo, you seem to have lost your mind because of fear. For those underworld bosses, the actual culprits would be those who will be caught with the stuff in their possession.’

  ‘But it is us who busted the vault and brought it out.’

  ‘Only Murli Cherat knows this fact, and we need to silence him.’

  ‘But those two fellows, the fake cops, also know about it. What about them?’

  ‘You are right. But I am sure nobody will take their story seriously when the two of them are caught with the looted stuff in their possession. Everyone will think that they are trying to make things up to reduce the severity of their crime, as an attempt to cover up their role.’

  ‘But that won’t be so if they present Murli Cherat as a witness to confirm their side of the story.’

  ‘This is the only loophole we need to plug. I have a scheme that we need to act upon immediately. I am certain then we will succeed in preventing Cherat from doing any damage.’

  Gailo still looked unconvinced.

  Jeet Singh laughed.

  ‘Why are you laughing?’ complained Gailo. ‘I can see the door to the next world and you are laughing.’

  ‘What shall I do then?’

  ‘Don’t! Please!’

  ‘What don’t? What please? First you show such exemplary courage, commit such an act of daredevilry and now you act as if you will die of fear any moment. Why?’

  ‘Jeete, times have changed.’

  ‘Should I give you some relief?’

  ‘Can you do it?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Then please do. But,’ he said with a hint of doubt in his voice, ‘how will you? What can you do in this case?’

  ‘I can tell you what I know.’

  ‘ok, go ahead. Tell me what you know.’

  ‘This murder,’ Jeet Singh threw the paper back in Gailo’s lap, ‘which you are so terrified about, is not a gangland killing.’

  ‘What are you saying?’

  ‘The style no doubt appears to be that of a gangland killing, which is why you jumped to the conclusion that the operators of the system did it to punish the one responsible for the heist, but in reality it is not so.’

  ‘But they did punish him.’

  ‘Whom do you think they punished?’

  ‘The middleman—Mangesh Gable …’

  ‘This man here is not Mangesh Gable.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘He said he was Mangesh Gable to fool you, so that when you try to take revenge, you aim for Mangesh Gable and hit his vault set-up.’

  ‘But Mangesh Gable’s finger is short by one-third.’

  ‘No, it’s not Mangesh Gable whose finger is short by one-third, it’s the fellow who snatched four lakh rupees from you whose middle finger is so, understand?’

  ‘How do you know?’

  ‘Because I have met Mangesh Gable.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘I have met the real Mangesh Gable. I just met him in Byculla, in the presence of his boss.’

  ‘Who’s his boss?’

  ‘Mehboob Firangi.’

  Gailo’s eyes popped out.

  ‘You … you …’ he blabbered, ‘you met Firangi?’

  ‘Yes, I just left his court.’

  ‘So the Johri Bazar set-up belongs to him?’

  ‘It appears to be so. That is why he was so angry about it. He sent two crooks to take me there just because he knew I was a top lockman, and the Johri Bazar heist must have been the work of a top vault-buster. He had me roughed up even when he was convinced I did not do it.’

  ‘Oh no!’

  ‘My stomach still hurts, so do my ribs and back.’

  ‘Jesus!’

  ‘Our Murli Cherat and his manager were also in attendance there.’

  ‘Oh my God! How did you manage to get away then? Did he not tell him that you were the one who …’

  ‘No, he did not.’

  ‘But why not? No, first tell me the complete story.’

  Jeet Singh told him everything in detail.

  ‘Jesus, Mary and Joseph!’ an astonished Gailo said when Jeet Singh had finished. ‘That fellow Cherat saw you in both forms—in original and in the sardar disguise—and still he said he didn’t know you!’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Why? Because he wanted to do us a favour?’

  ‘Whatever he did, he did for his own sake. Otherwise he would have been dead there and then.’

  ‘You, too!’

  ‘There was every possibility. But it wouldn’t have been any consolation to him had I died with him.’

  ‘You have a point there.’

  ‘As of now, we need to cash in on the untruth that Cherat told Big Boss Firangi, to our benefit.’

  ‘How?’

  ‘I will tell you how. But first tell me, where would Cherat be currently—at home or at work?’

  ‘At home. He said he works an eight-hour shift. If he gets relieved at midnight, he must be back on duty the next day at four in the evening. So he can’t be anywhere but home at this hour of the day.’

  ‘And you know where he lives?’

  ‘Yes, I do.’

  ‘Fine, let’s go there then.’

  They reached Dharavi, then Mukund Nagar, where Murli Cherat lived.

  Cherat himself opened the door in response to the bell. Luckily for them he was back from Byculla. He was alarmed to see them standing there and immediately tried to shut the door.

  ‘What’s the point?’ Gailo said. ‘You have to come out to go to work anyway!’ ’

  Cherat’s loosened his grip on the door.

  ‘What do you want?’ he asked nervously.

  ‘Bhai wants to say thanks to you.’

  ‘Bhai?’

  ‘Shooter! Of a big underworld gang! Have you forgotten?’

  He shook his head.

  ‘Why are you shaking your head?’ Gailo asked harshly.

  ‘He is no bhai. No shooter.’

  ‘What did you say?’

  ‘He is Jeet Singh, a locksmith, but also a lockbuster and expert safecracker. The big boss himself said that in Byculla.’

  ‘You were listening to everything!’ Jeet Singh said.

  ‘What should I have done—closed my ears?’

  ‘But the big boss agreed in front you that I was not the
guy who did it. You heard him say that, right?’

  ‘You fooled him, deceived him, tricked him with your slick talk.’

  ‘And you still said no when it was time to identify me.’

  ‘Was I wrong to say so?’

  ‘Not at all, but …’

  ‘Something else also came to my mind there.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘You are a big vault-buster, famous safecracker …’

  ‘Again the same thing! Arre, I said …’

  ‘You said you were not that person because it was necessary to say so there. You know why it was necessary. But why repeat the same bullshit here?’

  ‘Is that so?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Fine, then finish what you were saying.’

  ‘I want to say that the Sikh … the one in the vault that night … he too … he too … you understand what I’m trying to say?’

  ‘You are a smart fellow, no doubt. As a matter of fact, that’s why I have come here to thank you. Followed?’

  ‘I accept your thanks,’ he said and tried to close the door again.

  ‘Stop! Don’t do that!’

  ‘Now what?’

  ‘Is your wife home?’

  ‘No, she has gone to the supermarket, will return in an hour.’

  ‘Nobody’s at home and you still won’t let us in! Get aside, now.’

  He let them in with great unwillingness.

  They went in and sat on a sofa in the small drawing-room inside.

  Cherat closed the door and stood before them.

  ‘Sit,’ Jeet Singh said, ‘we need only two minutes.’

  He nodded and sat hesitatingly before them.

  ‘You did not identify me in front of Big Boss,’ Jeet Singh said in a sincere tone, ‘I thank you a hundred times for it. And a thousand thanks for not identifying me even in the disguise of a sardar. But why, why did you do it?’

  ‘I did it as a favour to you,’ Cherat mumbled.

  ‘Yes, I agree, but there must be another reason too!’

  ‘There is no other reason.’

  ‘There is a reason indeed. Since you won’t say it on your own, let me say it. Big Boss Mehboob Firangi still seems to be unaware of the fact that those who busted the vault were in turn conned by a third party, who took the loot. You knew this and you also knew that in this scenario, you could not afford to identify me because it was you who had tipped off the third party, who is currently in possession of Firangi’s stuff. Had you identified me there, your own role in last night’s events would have also come out in the open. This is why, man, for your own sake and not for mine, did you not identify me. You didn’t do me a favour, you did yourself one. Now say what you want to say.’

  Cherat did not say anything. He sat there squirming, shifting his weight from one side to the other.

  ‘You saw everything with your own two eyes, so you yourself are a witness to the fact that those underworld fellows believe that I was not one of the duo who hit their system. Still that gangland boss had me roughed up. But your case is different. You were involved in the whole racket, partially if not fully, and you even collected fifty thousand bucks from the third party for your role in it. Now tell me, when the big boss comes to know of this great deed of yours, then what will be your fate?’

  Cherat turned white, and swallowed with unease.

  ‘And who will trust you when you say you knew nothing of those fellows who conned us and took the stuff minutes after we had taken it out of the vault?’

  ‘Who will believe,’ Gailo said, ‘that you were a heavily paid informant of some people you did not know?’

  ‘But this is the truth,’ Cherat pleaded, ‘God’s truth.’

  ‘Right, right! But who will believe you?’

  ‘When you’re given a thorough beating,’ Jeet Singh said, ‘and ultimately you talk, what will you say? You’ll tell them about a mobile number on which you squealed on us, on which you extended the news of our success in the vault. I checked that number, it is no longer in use. They got rid of the sim the moment their purpose was served. But when there is no response from the number, Big Boss and his goons will think you were trying to fool them. Guess what will happen then?’

  ‘Wh-what will happen?’

  ‘They will beat you to death.’

  His whole body shivered.

  ‘But,’ he said with great difficulty, ‘the matter is closed now.’

  ‘What did you say?’

  ‘That matter is closed because they trusted my story that I did not know you. They won’t be able to know of all these things now. Who will tell them that …’

  ‘We will tell them.’

  ‘But why? I did so much for you …’

  ‘You did it for yourself, I told you before.’

  ‘ok, I did it for myself, but also for you.’

  ‘No, you did not do it for us. It was purely incidental because you could not have saved your own skin without saving ours. Had there been another way, you would not even have lifted your little finger to save us. You would have exaggerated our roles in the bust just to get brownie points with the boss.’

  ‘Still I could have gone against you …’

  ‘Forgot the cd? The one you’ve been threatening us with?’

  ‘Oh! So, that’s how it is!’

  ‘Yes, you got it. Give us back the cd if you want to save your skin.’

  He shook his head vigorously.

  ‘It is of no use to you now. The purpose for which you had prepared it is over, no?’

  He looked away.

  ‘Arre, idiot,’ Gailo shouted, ‘isn’t anything my friend saying getting into your thick head?’

  ‘You can’t force me.’

  ‘Is that so?’

  ‘You promised me that you will forget what I did, and won’t ever bother me again. Now you are backing out of the deal, you are breaking the promise.’

  ‘The promise was as per the understanding,’ Jeet Singh said, ‘that the story was over, that the night’s incident was not going to be mentioned again. But that’s not what happened. The very next day both of us had to be in attendance at Big Boss’s court. In place of coming to an end, the story took a new turn, a new and dangerous turn. Now I am on the radar of the notorious mafia boss Mehboob Firangi. This time he was kind to me, and let me off with just a lesson. But next time he warned me that my throat would be laughing. Now what do I do? Mind my promise, or

  my life?’

  Cherat remained silent.

  ‘The promise was applicable in normal circumstances. You know very well that this is not normal—neither for us nor for you. As of now, you are the only person who knows of our role in last night’s heist. We would not have bothered much about it but you acted extra smart and saved the video recording of the events on a cd. We can’t effectively deny our role in light of that cd, and we can’t afford to let you keep it. In the current scenario, the cd is the talismanic parrot with our lives stuck in it. We want the cd back.’

  He forcefully shook his head.

  ‘It won’t do to shake your head. I’m not threatening you, I’m making a request—give me the cd or I go to Big Boss.’

  ‘You are trying to fool me. You don’t know where to find him, do you?’

  ‘Are you nuts? Weren’t you there when Big Boss ordered his lieutenant Mangesh Gable to give me his mobile number and take mine?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘So? Now, if I make a call to Gable and tell him that I have important information for Big Boss that I want to give him in person, what do you think will he do? He will summon me immediately, right?’

  ‘What will you tell him?’

  ‘I will tell him the whole story. I will tell him that you have a cd of those two fellows busting the vault, who you so strongly refused to have ever seen. Now you tell me, smartass, would there be anything else left to tell him after all this?’

  Cherat looked visibly shaken.

  ‘And then, while I got just a sample
, you’ll get the full treatment. Do you understand what the full treatment is or do I have to explain it to you?’

  He shivered from head to foot.

  ‘Wh-what would become of you?’ he finally asked in a choked voice.

  ‘It’ll be something terrible for sure. But you won’t be alive to see it. You would already be ringing God’s doorbell, saying Mehboob Firangi has sent you. No?’

  Cherat shifted uncomfortably again.

  A heavy silence descended on the room for some time.

  ‘If you have to think this long,’ Gailo said, ‘then take the day off from work. We have enough time. Your wife will also return soon. You can then ask her to help you think.’

  He swallowed hard.

  ‘You wanted to send a copy of the cd to the underworld boss,’ Jeet Singh said, ‘it will reach him in any case now, no matter what happens to you.’

  ‘Wh-what will you do,’ Cherat said in a defeated voice, ‘if I hand over the cd?’

  ‘If you don’t act too smart and guarantee that there is no other copy, we will destroy it.’

  ‘Right here,’ Gailo said, ‘right before your eyes.’

  ‘There is no other copy.’

  ‘What about the “safe hands” that were supposed to forward a copy to the police?’

  ‘Yes, but there is no copy yet. I would have made it if things got too hot.’

  ‘Sure?’

  ‘Yes,’ he stopped for a while, then spoke again, ‘I’ve put all my cards on the table, now it’s your turn. Tell me, how can I be sure that you won’t secretly tip off Big Boss even after the cd is destroyed?’

  ‘Why would we report our own misdeeds?’

  ‘You could report a censored version in which no finger is pointed at you.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘So that I get punished all the same.’

  ‘And you can sing like a canary to the boss about our role?’

  ‘Without the cd, I won’t be in a position to prove anything. Now answer me, what’s the guarantee that you won’t give an anonymous tip to Big Boss?’

  ‘I’ll do that, but first tell me—do you want an honest answer or a superficial one?’

  ‘I want an honest answer.’

  ‘The honest answer, my friend, is that there is no guarantee. As there is no guarantee that there is no other copy of the cd with you.’

  ‘I swear there’s only one copy.’