Finally, he ended the call and said, ‘Rajaram Lokhande is staying at Hotel Anand in Ghatkopar.’
‘Did Pardesi give you a room number?’
‘Yes, 605. He also said that it is a small hotel, but three-star.’
‘What about the bodyguard?’
‘He left Lokhande at the hotel and went to his own place. Pardesi just called from Chuna Bhatti.’
‘What did you tell him to do?’
‘I told him to call it a day.’
‘Good! Now, just you see, within half an hour our smartass Anil Ghumre will be in the custody of Firangi’s men.’
‘Why not in our custody?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘If those mafia guys can force him to give information about the other fellow, the one who was the leader, then we could also have done the same. When we have the opportunity before us to capture the whole lot, why should we restrain ourselves to ten per cent? That too, when there is no guarantee of this ten per cent?’
‘Are you mad? Gailo, while planning the heist, were you aware that the system belonged to Mehboob Firangi? That you were trespassing on a mafia don’s territory? No, you were not. Would you have dared to do what you did had you known these things beforehand?’
‘I still don’t get you.’
‘What is it that you don’t get? Haven’t you noticed how fast Mehboob Firangi’s action was? Day before yesterday the incident happened and in less than twelve hours the suspects were standing before him. We have passed him a hint about one of the actual suspects in the hope of getting a reward and our revenge, but do you think he would not have done anything or could not have done anything had we not given him the hint? He would have done everything. He would have exhausted his resources trying to find the man behind the heist. It would have taken time, but his ruthless crooks would have found the real culprit sooner or later. And then, we would have been meeting the bad end that that fellow is going to meet now. Understood?’
Gailo looked away, avoiding eye contact with Jeet Singh.
‘I would not even have gone close to Johri Bazar had I known the set-up belonged to an underworld boss like Mehboob Firangi.’
‘You are right. Now, will you go to Firangi’s place tomorrow morning?’
‘I have to go. I can’t violate the order of a mafia boss like him.’
‘Will you return safely?’
‘I fulfilled the task. A task worth a reward. Why not?’
‘With a reward?’
‘Of that I have no guarantee, but I haven’t lost hope either. We will see.’
‘I’m worried about you.’
‘No harm done. You’re a friend after all.’
‘Can’t I do something?’
‘No. This time you can’t do a thing. This time I have to face it all alone. Now, let’s get out of here.’
Gailo started the engine and drove to the main road.
‘Now I have to take the Vithalwadi Road to drop you there, no?’
‘No, let’s go to Johri Bazar first.’
‘What for?’
‘For Murli Cherat,’ he looked at his watch, ‘he must still be on duty. We need to talk to him before he goes home.’
‘Why do we need to do that?’
‘I have to prepare him to do something tomorrow. I will plead, beg, convince, even threaten him if need be. But I need to have him in confidence. It is absolutely essential that he behaves in a specific manner before Big Boss tomorrow.’
‘I see.’
Saturday: 23 May
Jeet Singh set an alarm before he went to bed and woke up at 7.30 in the morning. He finished his chores and had his breakfast in half an hour, and then called Gailo.
‘Where are you?’ he asked.
‘Jambuwadi,’ Gailo replied, ‘in my kholi. Why did you call?’
‘I asked you to do something on Wednesday morning!’
‘Yes, you asked me to find out whether somebody had offered a supari for the murder of the Sindhi seth.’
‘So you did not forget it!’
‘How could I? How could I forget an important task given to me by such an important guy?’
‘Have you found anything?’
‘No, not even a hint to indicate that somebody took a supari to kill him. I was about to tell you yesterday, but then thought of looking at other angles also. For example, the supari killer could have been an outsider. Many hired assassins come to Mumbai from Goa these days. Or, someone from the family, whoever he was, could have done it himself in place of hiring the assassin.’
‘Someone from the family committed the murder?’
‘That’s what I said.’
Jeet Singh thought about the likely candidates from the family who could have committed a murder.
‘But the matter is not closed yet. I am still working on it.’
‘ok, thanks.’
He ended the call and hesitatingly dialled Navlani’s number.
Navlani answered immediately.
‘Good morning, sahib,’ he said in a humble tone, ‘and sorry for disturbing you so early in the morning.’
‘No problem,’ Navlani said, ‘what did you call for?’
‘I thought there may be some news for me, sahib?’
‘Yes, there is something as a matter of fact. We have come across two sensational pieces of information. I thought of telling you face to face, but since you have called, let me tell you now.’
‘I am all ears, sahib.’
‘The England-based private detective agency, with whom I have a reciprocal business arrangement, sent me a mail late last night. Their report says that the elder son, Alok Changulani had a ticket for Dubai booked on Saturday, 9 May, on an early morning flight by Oman Air. He had to attend a three-day conference there in Dubai …’
‘Conference! Is he in business?’
‘No, he has a salaried job. His employer company sent him to attend the conference in Dubai, but he didn’t start with a Manchester-Dubai-Manchester ticket. His return flight was from Mumbai and he was holding an open ticket for that.’
‘What’s an open ticket?’
‘An open ticket has no fixed date of travel. The passenger can tell the airline the day of his choice and the airline validates it for that day’s journey.’
‘What date did he choose for the travel?’
‘Friday, 15 May. He had a late-night flight from Mumbai, and he was in Manchester the next morning.’
‘The murder took place on Saturday night, and he was back in Mumbai again on Sunday morning. This means he returned the very next day?’
‘Yes.’
‘Is this to-and-fro journey fully confirmed, sahib?’
‘Yes, one hundred per cent. But we are not sure about one thing. We still don’t know where he was—in Dubai or Mumbai—from Tuesday evening to Friday. We will find it out sooner or later, but we don’t know about it as of now.’
‘Oh!’
‘So, if this is a supari killing as suggested by you, then the elder son Alok Changulani too had every opportunity to make arrangements for that.’
‘Sahib, now there is a problem in that angle.’
‘What?’
‘Maybe this was not a supari killing.’
‘You mean the one who was interested in sending Sethji to the other world did it himself!’
‘It is likely.’
‘Then the elder son can’t be the killer, for he was certainly in England at the time and date of murder.’
‘Sahib, somebody told me that if a hired assassin comes from outside, say from Goa, the local taporis do not come to know of him. They won’t have a clue if he makes a quick in-and-out.’
‘Quick in-and-out! Well said! But how can a person, coming from nine thousand kilometres, arrange an imported assassin within such a short span of time?’
‘Sahib, it is difficult but not impossible, I must say.’
‘Maybe you’re right.’
‘Sahib, you said the elder son is in se
rvice in England. Do you know what the younger one does for a living?’
‘Yes, I do. And I didn’t have to depend upon the British private detective agency for this info. I got it here in Mumbai from Sethji’s neighbour and friend Ramaswamy. The younger one runs a restaurant named Taste of India in London, which, Ramaswamy says, is not doing well. Sethji had himself told Ramaswamy that he used to ask him frequently for financial assistance. He also said that the meagre income the restaurant used to generate was not enough to even pay the rent of the premises and the salaries of the staff.’
‘Why doesn’t he close it then?’
‘Ramaswamy gave two reasons. One, he had big plans; he hoped the restaurant would start doing well, if not today then tomorrow. Second, he could not continue living in an expensive city like London had he closed down the restaurant. To top it all, he had rotten, disastrous habits.’
‘What habits?’
‘He gambles. He is a compulsive gambler. He pretends that the property in Bayswater in which his restaurant is running belongs to him and he gets credit from the casino on this pretence.’
‘Doesn’t his wife object?’
‘He has no wife. He went there single, married a British girl there but it did not last long. They were divorced one and a half year later. And it is said that the girl took a huge amount as divorce settlement. His financial decline started from there.’
‘What about the elder one?’
‘He is married, has three kids and his wife is Indian. The marriage is said to be fine.’
‘He does not have financial problems?’
‘Even if he has any, it is not known yet.’
‘But the younger one’s problems are known, and are known to be big?’
‘Bigger than you can imagine. The British detective agency reported that that guy has to pay a debt of six hundred thousand pounds, which in rupees comes to five crores.’
‘My goodness! The casino lent him that much money?’
‘They were under the impression that he owned the restaurant building, which is a big thing in London. This is where they failed, because they didn’t crosscheck his claims and credentials properly. And they were also lax since he was the son of a rich Indian businessman.’
‘I see.’
‘But now he has been exposed. They know that he does not own the building. And also know that his father was not willing to lend such a grand amount of money to rescue him. That’s why they let loose one of their enforcers upon him.’
‘Enforcer?’
‘Recovery specialist. These people not only beat and terrorize the defaulters to recover the loan, they sometimes kill them too.’
‘What if he runs away from London?’
‘They are professionals. You can’t escape them by running away.’
‘So if he comes to India, the enforcer will also come chasing him?’
‘Yes.’
‘But now there is no problem. He is soon going to get a big amount of money from his father’s inheritance.’
‘That may take time. But they have started working to speed up the process.’
‘What have they done?’
‘They have filed a succession petition in the court of the civil judge that since the two sons and the daughter are the only living successors of the deceased, they must be declared inheritors of his property as per the law of the land.’
‘What about the old will of which you have a photocopy?’
‘Nobody is talking about it. They have submitted in the court that they are not aware of any will.’
‘But that’s not true.’
‘No, it’s not.’
‘Will they get away with this?’
‘They will, if nobody comes forward to challenge it.’
‘What if Sushmita challenges it?’
‘Then they will do what they threatened her with.’
‘She planned the murder? I committed it?’
‘Yes.’
Jeet Singh kept quiet.
‘Don’t lose heart,’ Navlani said, ‘late last night I met Gunjan Shah while coming back from Kalyan, and showed him the copy of the will. He will certainly come out with a plan to counter their strategy.’
‘When will that happen?’
‘Well, that depends on you.’
‘I don’t understand, sahib.’
‘Because your mind is preoccupied with something else. Jeet Singh, the first meeting was free. But now, he won’t lift his little finger till he is paid his fee.’
‘Oh!’
‘First, you give me the good news that the fee has been arranged. Only then can I ask him about his counterstrategy. Who knows, he may already have chalked out a plan to beat the Changulanis.’
‘ok, sahib, I will let you know.’
He ended the call and sighed.
The mere mention of the fee had made his heart sink.
He was about to lock the flat before leaving for Byculla when the phone rang again.
Navlani was on the line again.
‘I forgot to mention one thing,’ he said.
‘What’s that, sahib?’
‘We have come across no information about any railway reservation made in the name of Tiwari, Sethji’s store manager.’
‘Which means he could still be here in Mumbai.’
‘Not necessarily. He could have travelled on a general, unreserved ticket. Or, he could have procured the ticket in black, which’ll be in somebody else’s name.’
‘Right.’
‘Or, he could have travelled by plane to the nearest airport, say Varanasi.’
‘Why would he do that? He was in no hurry to leave the city!’
‘He was not, but those who wanted him to leave certainly were.’
‘Hmm.’
‘Earlier we were not thinking of Tiwari as a plane passenger. The plane thing came to mind only when the rail reservation was not confirmed. Then it occurred to us that he could have been handed a plane ticket. Adinath Dhanekar is now checking plane reservations for Tiwari. I will let you know if we get any lead.’
‘Thank you, sahib.’
4
It was five minutes to nine when Jeet Singh reached the six-storeyed building at Mount Road in Byculla. He took the lift to the top floor and rang the doorbell.
The door was opened by Mirchu. He looked at Jeet Singh and nodded.
‘Go to the hall,’ he said mechanically.
Jeet Singh went in, and stepped hesitatingly into the hall.
Nobody reacted to his arrival.
Big Boss Mehboob Firangi was sitting on his leather upholstered chair behind the desk. He was wearing the same white pants and shirt, which appeared to be his uniform. He looked angrier than the previous day. A terrified Anil Ghumre stood in front of him, his face as white as a sheet of paper. He was flanked by Mangesh Gable on one side, and Ehsaan and Om Raje on the other. Murli Cherat was standing close to the window, a little apart from them.
Jeet Singh’s toolkit and the turban-fifty, etc., were lying on the desk in front of Big Boss.
Jeet Singh was relieved. The recovery of those items was a necessary step to establish his story, and to ensure that Ghumre and his partner—whoever he was—were taken care of—permanently.
‘So,’ Firangi hissed, ‘you are the lockmaster?’
‘No, boss,’ Ghumre said, pleading.
‘The top one! The one who can open anything!’
‘No, boss.’
‘These tools to bust locks are not yours?’
‘No, boss.’
‘And this disguise of a sardar, this too is not yours?’
‘No, boss.’
‘These things were recovered from your room.’
‘I have no idea how they got there, boss.’
‘Though you had hidden them well, I must say. In the empty flush cistern. Is it your usual hiding place or you used it only this time?’
‘I did not hide it there, boss. I have no idea about this stuff. I never even thou
ght of looking into that cistern.’
‘But this time you did think of looking into it, didn’t you?’
‘No, boss. Somebody planted this stuff there to frame me.’
‘Don’t you lock your room?’
‘I do, boss, always.’
‘Did you find it unlocked when you got there?’
‘No, boss.’
‘So, you want to say that some pigeon came through the skylight and put it there, without disturbing the lock. No?’
‘Boss, somebody has done this to set me up. To take revenge from me. I don’t know how to bust locks. I would have gotten rid of the toolkit in no time had I busted the Johri Bazar vault.’
‘Gable—the man standing beside you, who caught you last night—says that the toolkit is imported, made in Germany. It costs one peti. How could a master locksmith, that is you, abandon such an expensive and valuable toolkit?’
‘But, boss, this is not what I do for a living. I don’t know anything about lockbusting. I have never seen these tools before. Somebody planted them in my room to fix my wagon.’
‘And who do you think did that?’
‘I don’t know, boss. I am telling God’s truth,’ he said, touching his Adam’s apple, ‘and boss, the tools are costly, but the fake beard and turban, they are not so. Why would I keep them hidden in the room too after the heist?’
‘Stop arguing like a lawyer, you bastard. Stop building such big arguments. I have to hear the story from your mouth or I would have had your tongue chopped off by now.’
Ghumre’s whole body shivered visibly.
‘So you have no idea about my money?’
‘No, boss.’
‘You did not enter the vault?’
‘No, boss.’
‘You did not ask which vault!’
‘Boss, there is only one vault which is … which is …’
‘Bloody smartass!’
Ghumre licked his dry lips.
‘Premier Vault! Johri Bazar! Followed?’
‘Yes, boss.’
‘Have you ever been there?’
‘No, boss.’
‘Why?’
‘I never had any business going there.’
‘But you did have urgent business there the day before yesterday, and you did your job well, didn’t you?’
‘No, boss, never … I … I never did such a …’
‘Do you recognize anybody in this room?’
The Colaba Conspiracy Page 24