The Incredible Banker Read online

  He looked around. There were about nine people sitting at the reception. He couldn't make out who had come to see him. No one seemed like the guys who would he would normally interact with. Not that profile. From the corner of his eyes he looked at the receptionist. She tilted her head, moved her eyes to someone sitting right in front of him. Though Karan didn't read her signal well, he had narrowed down the search to three of the nine people. He looked at all of them and called out.

  'Jinesh?' it was less of a call out and more of a question.

  The most innocuous looking man stood up. 'Mr Panjabi...,' he said.

  'Yes, please call me Karan. Good to see you, Mr Shah.' He shook his hand. 'Let's go inside.' He guided him towards a conference room. Jinesh looked very shaken and worried. The creases on his forehead made him look at least a few years older than his age. He kept looking over his shoulder as if he was being followed. Something had shaken him up and it was showing on his face. It didn't take Karan much to figure this out and he was sensitive to Jinesh as he led him into the conference room at the far end of the corridor from the reception.

  'Please come in', he said as he opened the door of the small room. 'Please be comfortable.' And he gave him a big smile that instantly put Jinesh at ease. 'It's safe in here.'

  Karan sat away from the door and made Jinesh sit with his back facing the door. From that position Jinesh could not see the people walking through the corridor and that helped to add to his illusion of security.

  'Mr Shah, please feel comfortable. No one can reach here without our permission. No one can even listen in to our conversation,' Karan tried to assure him

  'Hmm...I hope you will not call the police.' Jinesh seemed apprehensive.

  'Not right now, for sure, because I do not know anything.'

  'Thanks for meeting me at such a short notice.'

  'It's ok, Mr Shah. So what do you do these days ? You said you run a restaurant. Right?'

  'Not a restaurant, I run the franchise of Costa Coffee in Juhu.'

  "The one near Amitabh's bungalow?' Karan asked.

  'Yes, yes, that's the one.'

  'Hmm...it's a new one. I have been there a couple of times.'

  'Yes, that's the story which I wanted to tell you.'

  'Yes, sir, I am waiting.'

  'About two years back I used to run a completely different business. I ran an Internet café. It was a flourishing business. I had about 20 computers and almost the entire student community in and around Juhu came to me. Mine was a reasonably well-known Internet café but everything changed one day.'

  Karan had seen that internet café earlier. It was actually a rundown, sleazy internet café, but just as is the case with children where everyone feels that their children are the best, even in business everyone feels that his shop is the best and Jinesh was no different.

  'What had happened?' Karan wanted to know

  "There was a man who came to me one day in March 2008. I had people around me and was slightly busy. He said he wanted to use my internet café. I was quite happy to let him in. Then he told me that he wanted to use it on a day when there would be no one in the café. I told him that there was not a moment during the day when all the terminals were free.'

  'This was in March 2008?'

  'Yes.'

  'Do you mind if I take notes ?' Karan asked.

  'Not at all.But please don't record our conversation. It scares me,' Jinesh requested him

  'Sure. Sure.... Go ahead.'

  'When I told him that there wouldn't be a moment during the day when all the terminals will be free, he went away. Probably he went looking for other places. Before leaving he called someone to take directions to other Internet cafes in the area.'

  'Hmm...'

  'When he didn't find any such internet café which would be free all through the day, he came back to me.'

  'When did he come back?'

  'Within the next two or three days.'

  'Why did he come back to you only?'

  'Maybe he went to the others too. But I would like to believe that he came to me because mine was the only one which had a small private enclosure.'

  'ok.'

  "This time he came with an offer.'

  'An offer?' Karan raised his eyebrows.

  'Yes. He asked me if I would shut down the internet café for a day. I was surprised and asked him why he would want me to shut down my café for a whole day. It would mean a loss of revenue for me.'

  'Strange.'

  'That's when he made a deal. He said he would pay me the double of the revenue lost during the day. Which meant that he would pay me double charges for the twenty internet terminals. It was an offer I could not resist. Suspecting that he would not pay later, I asked for advance which he agreed to.'

  'How much was that ? This would have meant over 10,000 rupees for the day, right?' Karan guessed.

  'Hmm...more than that. And it was difficult for me to refuse. See, I make that amount over a week, sometimes even longer. My café used to normally run at 40 per cent occupancy and he was paying me double the charges for all terminals that day.'

  'Understood.' 'He came back the next day. He brought his laptop and other equipment, which were small in size and fitted into a small bag. They looked like routers, scramblers and some hi-tech stuff. He said that he was working on a top-secret deal that couldn't be disclosed. He looked polished and smart. Spoke good English. So I was taken in and agreed to his condition of not recording his entry in my register. The rules required me to maintain a register marking everyone's entry and exit and also to take ID proof from clients who use the internet café.'

  'Hmm...then?'

  'He started his work at around 4 in the afternoon. He connected his own laptop. I think it was a brand new one. He kept working at it for a long time. I went in a couple of times, but every time he shooed me away. He didn't even eat or drink. He took his stuff inside with him and shut himself off from everyone.'

  My deal with him was till 10 p.m. He expected his work to get over by then but unfortunately it didn't. The connection was far too slower than what he thought it would be.'

  'Did you ask him to leave?' Karan was getting impatient. He wanted to know the core issue. He was wondering what was it that Jinesh was trying to tell him. But he didn't want to cut his flow. It's just that he wished he knew the end before he saw the complete movie.

  'I went inside to tell him that the time is up and he needed to leave. He didn't seem to be interested in stopping what he was doing. A variety of cables and equipment were spread around him, all connected in some way or the other to the laptop. He couldn't have stopped. He knew that I was a businessman, always on the lookout for means to make money. It had worked once when he gave me double the tariff for using the café. This time he dangled five notes of 1,000 each in front of me. He said that he was very close to finishing his work and would need to be around for an hour more. This was around 10 p.m. I could make out he was downloading something. I glanced at the screen, it said 12 per cent downloaded. It was something to do with passports because the file name was "Passport Mumbai".'

  'What? Passport Mumbai?' Karan was surprised.

  'Yes.'

  'Ok.' Though Karan was excited, he soon composed himself. It could have been anything.

  'I stepped out and waited. I was getting worried because police patrols that area after 10.30 p.m. There are a number of dark alleys which are frequented by couples who come there, park their cars and do improper things. So patrolling is intense. I was worried that some police constable might see the lights on and come in for a check. And then I would be in trouble. If I had known that he would go on for so long, I would not have given him the internet café.'

  'You gave it to him for the money. Didn't you? I think you would have given it even if he had told you he was going to work late. Don't complicate it by putting on a virtuous façade.' The moment Karan said that, he cursed himself. He was not there to win a debate with Jinesh.

  Jinesh t
hought for a moment and then said, 'Maybe.' Thankfully he didn't take offence. He continued, 'As I had feared, within minutes a couple of beat constables came and started pushing me around. They wanted me to shut down the café. I pleaded with them and sent them on their way. I spoke to the person inside and I shared part of the booty with the cops. They gave me ten minutes and said that they would be back after that.'

  'Did they come back?'

  'Yes. They came back in fifteen minutes and this time, they started acting tough. They became abusive. I think they had gone to drink and came back after downing a few pegs. It was becoming difficult to control them. I went in and requested the guy again. He blankly refused and said that he had paid money so he expected me to manage everything. By the time I came back the policemen had hunted and found where the power box was. I tried arguing with them but they didn't listen. They pulled out the fuse for the building. The lights went off. The computers were all on UPS, his laptop was on battery back up. I did not have spare UPS points near the private cubicle so the guy had connected his equipment to the normal power. I guess everything got switched off. I ran down. I did not want him to trip over anything and hurt himself. By the time I reached there, he had gone. As I was entering the room, I heard a small blast. The table he was working on was burning and everything around it was clean. It was a localised blast which destroyed any trace of what he was working on. He had disappeared through the back door. By the time I came up, the police constables had also disappeared, happy that they had the last laugh.'

  'Did you mention this to anyone?'

  'No, I did not tell anyone. I was so scared that I would get implicated in something and I did not tell anyone about it. I closed the café for a few days. The bomb blast had scared me. A couple of days later a few people from Crime Branch came and interrogated me and asked me if I had noticed any suspicious activity around that area in the past few days. They were with me for a few hours, confiscated all my PCs and disappeared. That scared me even more. I decided to shut down the internet café permanently and do something else. Over the next six months, I bought the neighbouring property and opened up a Costa Coffee outlet.'

  'So why are you telling me about this now? What made you come to me?' Karan asked

  'Because of your article in today's papers.'

  'What?'

  "The guy who had rented the café from me was none other than the guy in the picture on your front page.'

  'What are you saying?'

  'Yes, Mr Panjabi, he was none other than the alleged Naxalite who was killed. He was up to something crooked. I don't know what it exactly was but I am now worried and so I want to cooperate and tell everything to the police and CBI. However if I tell them now, I am scared they will implicate me in something and put me behind the bars. I would rather tell you so that the media knows everything before the police.'

  'How do we believe you, Mr Shah?' Karan voiced his skepticism.

  'I have a picture to prove this. In fact the first time he came in, I had people around me. There were a couple of people from the webcam company who were giving me a demonstration of the video camera to be fixed to the computer screen.'

  'Video camera? Why?'

  'You see, many internet users would come to chat with their girl friends, family and other acquaintances, so we keep using it. I had a webcamera attached with five of the twenty workstations. The webcam company was selling me webcams for the remaining fifteen. It was purely a matter of chance that the video camera was on when this Naxalite had come to see me for the first time. It recorded his movements and also the conversations. When I did the deal with him later, I retrieved the file and saved it securely. I just wanted to play it safe.'

  'Was he not aware that the computer was recording him?'

  'No. After the blast and the fire, I kept the file in a secure place.' Jinesh pulled out a USB drive from his pocket and handed it over to Karan. 'If I go to a TV channel with this, they will pay me lakh for it. But in this case I do not want to make money. I just want to protect myself.'

  'You are forgetting we too have a TV channel. Don't worry, we will get them to pay you whatever it is worth,' said Karan, reminding Jinesh that they were a full-fledged media house.

  'Will you give me a minute, Mr Shah? Please don't move out of this room.' Karan ran out of the conference room to see the contents of the USB drive. On his way he called Andy and Bhaskar and requested them to come to his room immediately.

  Andy and Bhaskar were with him in a jiffy. He plugged the USB drive into his computer and double-clicked on the MPEG file. The film started playing. All three of them were shocked. Jinesh was right! The entire discussion of the suspected Naxalite with Jinesh during his first visit to the café was captured on tape – Francis asking for the internet café to be vacant when he wanted to use it, Jinesh selling him the merits of his internet café. Almost everything was clearly visible on tape. It was surely the guy who was killed in the RaniBodli massacre. The Naxal commander, the referee.... It was him on the tape.

  'Bring him to my cabin.' Andy, too, wanted to be a part of this conversation.

  'No, Andy. He is comfortable with me. Let me handle this. If you want, I will dial you and keep my phone on during the entire conversation. You will be able to hear everything. Otherwise we may end up scaring him and he may not tell us anything,' Karan tried to dissuade him.

  'Hmm...its ok. You talk to him and let us know what he says. Keeping the phone on might make it too obvious and put him off,'

  And Karan went back to the room where Jinesh Shah was waiting for him. This time he went with his laptop. 'Yes, Mr Shah, you are right. This indeed is the same guy. But what was he trying to do?' Suddenly, Andy's secretary barged into the room. She had a cordless in hand. 'Andy wants to speak with you right now,' she told Karan.

  Karan took the phone. 'Yes, Andy,' and he walked out of the conference room talking on the phone.

  'Karan, I think we must get Thakurta into this. While we have had our share of glory in this case, this might just be getting out of hand. It may be bigger than what we can handle. What do you think?' Andy suggested.

  'I would second that, Andy. You asked me yesterday if I was getting scared...I think now I am beginning to get scared.'

  'Ok...let me try to call him. You keep Jinesh engaged while I try and reach out to Thakurta.'

  'Sure.' Karan returned to the conference room where Jinesh was waiting for him.

  'Sorry, Mr Shah, It was my boss on the line. Had to go,' Karan said.

  'No problems.'

  'Mr Shah, what you have given us today is extremely important. Would you mind if we use this clipping in our news channels (Times Now and ET Now) and cover this in the newspapers tomorrow? We will compensate you suitably for this. Andy, my boss, will close out the financials of the deal with you.'

  'I see no problem in that. But do you think there will be a liability on me? I should not land up in trouble.'

  'Unfortunately, Mr Shah, I don't think I am the right person to answer that. You will have to seek legal counsel. However, we will in, all our coverage, state that you had come forward on your own with this information. That will ensure that the law enforcers are liberal with you in case they interrogate you.'

  'So, what do you suggest me to do?'

  'What I can probably do, Mr Shah, is to talk to our legal advisor and get him to meet you. He can advise you on your way forward. But his advice to you will be entirely on a personal basis and the newspaper does not take any responsibility for that.'

  'Sure, I understand that.'

  'Would you like to wait here while I call him and see if he is free?' Karan asked.

  'Ok, I will wait here,' Jinesh agreed.

  'I will be back in a moment.'

  Karan walked out of the room and asked the receptionist to connect him to the legal counsel of the newspaper. Karan spoke with him briefly and within five minutes Lalit Khaitan, the legal counsel of Times Group, was with Jinesh. Karan left for his own room. He had a
bomb of a story now. Something that would blow the audience away! This story was fast becoming the newspaper's domain. They had the first-hand information on this story even before the CBI or the law enforcers got a wind of it.

  In the meantime Andy reached out to Thakurta.

  'Mr Thakurta, this is Anindya Mukherjee here?'

  'Yes, Mr Mukherjee, how can a meager soul like me help you?' Thakurta still seemed peeved at the way his conversation had gone with Andy the previous day.

  'Mr Thakurta, there is something which we have unearthed that might interest you. We could ideally have carried out the story tomorrow morning but that will hamper your chances of getting to the bottom of the issue. Will it be possible to for you to meet me? We can take you through it and then take a call on the course of action.'

  'Ok, when do you want to meet?' Thakurta was a little surprised that Andy was singing a reconciliatory tone, but he obliged.

  'Now!' said Andy.

  'What?!! Now?' He paused for a while. 'I have just reached home.'

  'Sir, it is something which you will surely be interested in knowing before we publish it. I leave it to your wise judgement.' Andy was not going to beg and plead with Thakurta. He was doing him a favour by giving him the information. If he wanted it, he better come.

  As expected, Thakurta arrived in thirty minutes. He too, was very concerned about this case as it signalled the resurgence of Naxalite sympathisers in urban India and that was a dangerous trend, which everyone in the government wanted to quell.

  Karan, Bhaskar and Andy gave a quick rundown to Thakurta on what Jinesh had told them. "Thakurta was listening intently to the entire episode. He had come alone. The moment they told him that Jinesh had seen the file with the name containing the word 'passport' being downloaded, Thakurta suddenly perked up.

  'What? Passport?' he asked them.

  'Yes, sir. The downloaded file had something to do with the Mumbai passport office,' Karan responded.

  Thakurta pulled out his phone and called someone. None of the other three in the room knew who he was speaking to. Within 45 seconds he cut the call.