The Incredible Banker Read online

  "The accused, Deepak, works with GB2 as a credit cards sales head and has been found to have deep-rooted links into the Naxal movement in Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh. "We suspect him to be one of the masterminds of the October 2009 massacre of over fifty-five police personnel in RaniBodli in Dantewada district. He has been arrested under the special provisions of POTA" (Prevention of Terrorism Act),' said a source in the CBI on conditions of anonymity... the article went on.

  'What the hell is this, Mansi?' screamed Ronald on the phone.

  'We were not aware that he was involved in this, Ronald.'

  'I don't expect you to know what Deepak is up to. I expect you to know what the press is up to. How could the biggest story of your life get published without you knowing it? It's your damn job. You are paid to keep a tab on the press and manage it, Mansi.' Ronald was furious.

  'Yes, Ronald, I understand. But such news cannot be prevented from getting published.'

  'Mansi, for God's sake spare me this crap early in the morning. I am not an idiot. I know these news items cannot be prevented or managed. But I expect you to know that such a story is about to break, so that it gives us enough time to manage these things internally. Now the guys from Singapore will be on our head within the next thirty minutes. Anyway, we will do this performance evaluation later. Let's first manage the issue on our hands. Can you please find out more about this. And where is Deepak? Do we have access to him? Have you called Rohan Naik? Does he know about this? Find out more.' Rohan was the security in-charge for GB2 and had extremely strong relationships with the police and the law enforcers.

  Mansi didn't know which question to answer, for there were too many of them. 'I have told Rohan. He is trying to find out. I am only surprised why no one from his family told us about it. Why didn't his wife call us yesterday? Very surprising.'

  'You ask Rohan to call me...NOW!' he said, before hanging up even as he read the last line of the article. '...The role of GB2 in the entire episode is yet to be seen'. What the hell! How could they even insinuate that someone at GB2 or GB2 itself was involved in supporting the naxal movement!

  And then he looked at the bottom. The name struck him. He picked up his phone and dialled Mansi.

  'Hello Mansi.'

  'I am just calling Rohan. Give me two minutes.'

  'No, not that. Wanted to check on something else.'

  'Yes, Ronald.'

  'Do you know Karan Panjabi? I recollect Sherlyn mentioning this name to me a few times.'

  'Yes. He used to work with us.'

  'Is this the same Karan Panjabi who has co-written this Times of India story?'

  'Oh! I didn't see that. I know he had joined Citibank when he quit. I don't recollect anyone mentioning that he has quit Citibank to join the media.'

  'Why did I think that you would not have discovered this ?' Ronald was sarcastic. 'Can you please check on that?"The stress on 'please' was not missed. He was frustrated with Mansi and her team.

  'I will check on both these things, Ronald.'

  'Great, thanks. Please get someone to start working on a briefing note and a press release. I am sure the press is going to be after our blood the moment we get into office. We should have a denial ready and cleared by legal and compliance teams by then.'

  'Sure, we are already working on this. Me and my team are in office.'

  'One more thing. Has any other newspaper carried this article?'

  'No, Ronald. This is a kind of scoop for TOI. An insider at CBI has leaked this story to The Times of India. Since they were the only ones to have this story, they carried it as a scoop and have made this a front page news item.'

  As he kept the phone down, Ronald knew that this was going to be the biggest challenge he had dealt with in his life. Almost immediately he went for his shower. It was going to be a long day in office. It was better to get in quickly. Rohan called. Hurriedly, he took a briefing and hung up, promising to call soon.

  After a quick shower and a hurried cup of coffee, he left for office. Enroute he connected with Rohan again.

  'Any update, Rohan?'

  'Not yet, Ronald. We tried calling Deepak's residence. No one is picking up the phone. We have sent someone to his house to find out more.'

  'Just be careful, Rohan. No one should even remotely link us to this case. We cannot be seen to be taking Deepak's side in this issue. We are just trying to find out the details so that we protect our interests.' Ronald was clear on how to defend GB2.

  'Yes, Ronald. I will take care of this. I will be in office in fifteen minutes and will brief you in detail when you come.'

  'Ok. Be careful.' Ronald disconnected the call.

  The fifteen minute drive from home to the MG road office of the bank was very stressful for Ronald. He was driving the car himself. His driver normally came by 7.30 a.m. That day he had left for work a good hour-and-a-half before that. The roads were empty. Marine Drive was dotted with a number of morning walkers, each trying to outdo the other. 'Mumbai has taken to fitness like never before', he thought as he focussed on the road and drove past the Churchgate station on his way to office.

  In The Times of India office, not too far away, the scenes were different. It was a big story that they had broken that day. Such a big story, and being the only newspaper to carry it, made it even more special. Anindya Mukherjee or Andy as he was called by everyone in the industry, the chief editor, was in his room, looking extremely gleeful. With him were the two men who powered the article – Bhaskar Ghosh and Karan Panjabi. The former was an old TOI hand while the latter had joined them only a week back. In fact, he was hired from Citibank to be the banking editor of their TV channel – ET Now. As a part of the regular induction into the group, he was on attachment with Anindya for a week. When this story broke out, Anindya requested him to assist Bhaskar, who was an expert on Naxal affairs but according to his own confessions, had little or no knowledge of banking.

  'Folks!' screamed Andy in joy. 'We have cracked it. This is a fabulous story. No one else has a clue. We are the only ones to have brought this out. Great work, boys.' He turned towards Karan and continued, 'And Karan, Bhaskar has seen many such successes in his career as a journalist. You are lucky to have got this exposure in your first assignment. And you have demonstrated that you have it in you to succeed. Well done, Karan. You have a long way to go.'

  'Thanks, Andy. I will always give it my best,' Karan tried to be humble.

  'I am sure. Anyway, well done, folks. I know you haven't slept the whole night in anticipation of this story. You guys deserve a well-earned break. Go home and get some rest,' Andy suggested.

  'Thanks, Andy,' both of them said in unison and turned to exit the room. As they were nearing the door, Andy stopped them.

  'Listen, folks, journalism is not about breaking a story before the others. It is about capitalising on the same and ensuring that everyone remembers that we were the ones to tell them about something which no one else did. We have made a good beginning. We must not let go of this opportunity. When you get back in the afternoon, I need to know from the two of you a plan on how we are going to build on this lead and how will we follow it up.'

  'Yes, Andy,' said Bhaskar. And Karan just nodded and came out of Andy's large but cluttered cabin.

  'Karan,' Bhaskar called out when he saw him heading towards the main exit to the building.

  Yes, Bhaskar?'

  'Where are you going?'

  'Home...will sleep for a while and then come back by twelve.'

  'Haha...you must be kidding, my friend.'

  'Arre...why? Even Andy asked us to go home, take some rest and come back with a plan.'

  'Karan, Andy wanted the plan by early afternoon. Remember he leaves at one and comes back by 6 p.m. If we have to give it to him by 1 p.m., we have to work it out now, before we head out. Or we will never be able to meet his deadline,' Bhaskar wisely suggested.

  'Gawwwddd!' Karan moaned before he turned back and walked towards Bhaskar. 'Come let's go,'
and they headed to the conference room. Karan let out a big yawn as they entered the large conference room.

  By the time they came out in the next one-hour, they had a rock solid plan. When they presented it to Andy, he was thrilled. "This will surely interest the readers. Who wants to read about the tragic stories of the Naxals? The glamour of the foreign banks will keep all of them enthused. And when that glamour gets juxtaposed with the thrill of the Naxal revelation, it will be fabulous. Let's put this in action,' Andy said excitedly He again looked at Karan and smiled, 'Karan, this is really good. It puts lot of onus on you as it lays emphasis on foreign banking in India. If you are able to deliver on this, you will become a star.' He walked up to Karan and hugged him. 'One last word of caution. While we will give the public what they want, we will not report anything which we believe we cannot corroborate, or which is unconfirmed. If it is a hypothesis, we will state it so. If it is a pragmatic hunch, we will make a judicious choice, but we will not indulge in character assassination.'

  'Yes, Andy. Don't worry on that count,' Karan assured him.

  'I am saying this because I know that Deepak and you did not get along. It is said that you even quit your job because of him. I do not want that bias to reflect in your reporting. This may be your opportunity to get back at him but I do not want this to be used as one.'

  Karan was shocked. How did Andy know about all this? Every word of his was true. When he was writing out the report last night, biases had crept in because of his hatred for Deepak. But Andy, knowing about the background was surprising. 'Sure, Andy,' was all he could say as he turned to leave the room.

  Back at GB2, by the time Ronald reached office, Ramneek Chahal, Manish Bhalla, Rohan Naik and Mansi were already there. They huddled in his room and shut the door. Sherlyn had come in, too. Ronald had called her as an after-thought just in case calls came in from the regional offices in Singapore.

  'Let's begin the debriefing. Rohan, tell me all that you know.'

  For ten minutes Rohan briefed the team on everything that had happened. The media had reported only about Deepak's arrest for being a Naxal sympathiser. It did not talk about the details. About the killed Naxalite in RaniBodli, about the credit card in the name of Francis, about the possible and proven linkages between Deepak and Francis. Hie nitty-gritty were missing. The CBI had not provided the details and hence the paper had not carried the same.

  Rohan had found out all this information from his contacts and passed them on to the entire team. They were all equally shocked. Deepak had the reputation of being a politically savvy worker, but he was definitely not the one to be associated with those batding the government, with those employing unconstitutional means to achieve their goals. However, it seemed that their perceptions were incorrect and Deepak was all that they thought he wasn't.

  'Ok, has anyone been to his house yet? While we cannot be seen to be linked to this issue, we need to make sure that the family is comfortable. We can't let the family of an employee suffer till the time that he is proven guilty. Even if he has been taken into custody on account of a non-work related issue.' Ronald tried to demonstrate his human side. Everyone realised that this was just a lip service to make sure that no one faulted him.

  'Yes, Ronald. Someone from my team visited his apartment in Chembur this morning. We were not allowed to go in. It's a sanitised area. There is a large posse of police personnel posted outside his house. A number of TV outdoor vans were also parked there. After his arrest, it looks like his family has gone into hiding. There is no one at home. Unless the CBI has taken them into custody for their own safety,' Rohan said.

  'Or maybe for interrogation,' added Mansi.

  'Possibly,' echoed Ronald. 'And Mansi, will you use your contacts at least now and see what the media is planning. I want to know what they propose to do. We need to protect our brand. We need to safeguard our interest. Deepak may be involved but we cannot allow ourselves to be dragged into this issue. And that reminds me, where is the briefing note that I wanted to send to Singapore?'

  'That will be with you in five minutes. Rajesh Krishnamoorthy is working on it,' Mansi answered.

  'Ok, make sure it is comprehensive and covers all the information that we have.'

  'Sure, Ronald.'

  "Thanks. We will all assemble here again in the next sixty minutes. And Mansi, can you please ask Joel to come in, too? I want HR to be completely in the loop.'

  As all of them were walking out, Ronald called out to them.

  'Folks...Do you think Deepak is guilty?'

  'I don't know,' said Rohan. 'But the way it has unfolded it looks like he is definitely involved. Guilty or not, I can't say.' He refrained from being judgemental.

  Ronald just nodded his head as the others walked out of the room.

  The day was too hectic for Ronald. Rushing from one meeting to the other, from one conference call to the other, he did not know when the day ended. The press had come calling more than once and each time they were sent back with a press release. Mansi and her team had drafted a crisp press note which just said that the matter was subjudice and hence the bank would not comment on it. The release also went on to say that they were working with the regulatory authorities to get to the bottom of this and would share the details with the press as appropriate.

  Savitha was continuously trying to reach Deepak on Sunday but his mobile was switched off. She spent the entire night wondering what had gone wrong. Nervously, on Monday morning, she packed her daughter off to school and got into her car. She drove all the way from Bandra to Chembur, to Deepak's house, only to see it surrounded by hordes of people, almost all of them from the media.She quietly made a hasty retreat and returned home. She did not know what to do. It was best to wait and watch.

  The whole of Monday, Deepak spent at the CBI office at an undisclosed location in Mumbai. He was interrogated repeatedly on his relationship with the referee. How did he get to know him? Where did he meet him? What all did they discuss? The CBI had a number of questions to ask him. Deepak had answers to many of them. When Deepak did not know the answer, he was tortured mentally. The CBI had already pronounced him 'guilty' and was trying to get the most out of him. It was a harrowing experience.

  By evening on Monday, Deepak had become the most well-known GB2 banker in the country. Almost everyone who watched TV knew his name. All the channels carried this story as the lead. A foreign banker involved with the Naxalites and being a Naxal sympathiser made for very interesting viewing.

  By evening CBI came out with a press release in support of the story. They fed the media with the necessary fodder. The fact that Deepak was a supporter of the Naxal movement and had a role to play in the massacre of innocent policemen in RaniBodli was put out to the press at large. The story of Francis and the Omega watch was given out to the media.

  As Ronald had expected, there was pandemonium at GB2 headquarters. Everybody from the regional office to the global headquarters in New York were keen to know what the story was and what steps were being taken to reduce the negative impact that this story could potentially have on the brand. To make matters worse, Christmas holidays were about to begin and almost all the seniors were expected to be on leave for over three weeks. Everyone wanted to make sure that they had covered up their bases and gathered as much data as was required to keep their seniors happy. No one really came forward to help Ronald solve the problem – they just wanted to know what he was doing to fix it.

  The whole thing was becoming too frustrating for Ronald. But as the CEO of the bank in India, there was no running away from it. By afternoon, the RBI had inquired about what was going on. Mansi, along with Saurabh, made a quick trip to the RBI and reassured them that GB2 management was on top of things and there was nothing to be concerned about. It was a mere issue of non-compliance by one of their staff members. It was not a systemic issue but more a matter of personal integrity and that the judiciary was dealing with it. RBI bought their explanation.

  That evening, Man
si called Bhisham. 'Bhisham, that Francis fella...'

  'Yes, what chaos he is creating for us? But Mansi, do you think Deepak could really be involved?'

  'These days it's difficult to tell, Bhisham. Anyway, leave that. The police will figure that out. Bhisham, I called because Ronald wants to know if the card of Francis is a delinquent card. The data that came to us in the morning suggests that it is not. However, I wanted to check with you.'

  'I expected this question. I have seen the statements. No suspicion. He is a very good customer. High spender on the card. Pays every month and is what we call a transactor – a customer who spends on the card and pays the entire amount almost instantaneously...does not revolve on his card, in other words he does not carry forward the outstanding by paying a minimum amount due.'

  'Oh, in short, a very good customer. That's good. I will inform Ronald.' Mansi did not understand a word of what Bhisham had said. All that she could make out was that Francis's card was not a delinquent card.

  "Ihanks, Mansi. Call me in case you need any help. Do you want a note for Ronald on the performance of Francis's card?'

  'Of course, it will help. Why don't you send it to Ronald?' and then she paused. 'Wait. Send it to me first. I am putting together something for Ronald on this. I will give it to him along with the other papers.'

  She then called up Ronald almost instantaneously to inform him that Francis was a non-delinquent, high spender but a transactor. A good customer who banks would die to keep on their rolls!

  'Something seems fishy here. If he is such a good customer, it is difficult to digest that he would be involved in such activities. Can you re-check?' Ronald seemed suspicious. Mansi just muttered something into the phone and hung up, leaving Ronald wondering if everything was as clear as it looked.

  'Sherlyn,' he called out. 'Can you please call Rohan Naik and also get the fraud head, Inder on line? It's urgent!I need them on a conference call.'