The Incredible Banker (19 page)

Thakurta was not interested in his appeals. He continued, 'Even though we recovered a credit card with the name Francis from his wallet, we were quite surprised to see that this gentleman had a sacred thread around his chest. A sacred thread is what the Hindus wear -"the janeu". Was the deceased a Christian named Francis? Or was he a Hindu with the credit card in a Christian name? Either of which is concerning. The former indicates the growing clout of Christian separatists taking advantage of the Maoist insurgency and creating chaos in the region while the latter indicates serious fraud percolating into the Maoist camps, which is a larger cause of worry. In either case, it is important to know the identity of the killed person. Is he Francis or is he someone else? We need to quickly find out.'

'And how do I come into the picture?'

'Hold on Mr Sarup. Let me finish,' and Thakurta stopped, allowing Deepak time to wipe the sweat from his forehead. 'And now on to the packet that you are holding in your hand. It is very unlikely that something like that would be found with someone living and working in the jungles of Dhauli. Do you recognize that, Mr Sarup?' He waited

'Not too sure. I have seen pieces like this before'

'Mr Sarup. On investigating, we found that this is something which has been bought by and paid for using your personal credit card.'

'How can you be so sure of that? There could be multiple pieces of the same model,' argued Deepak.

'Deepak, do we all look like idiots to you? Three of us will not come to you on a hunch.' This was the first sign of aggression from Thakurta, who had kept his cool till then.

'We have evidence to prove that this was something you had bought on 13 January 2009, in Interlaken. I am sure you know that every Omega watch has a unique number engraved below its left strap hinge. The same number is mentioned in your purchase receipt and in the information held with the company. This unique number helps in settling warranty claims and issues related to servicing. It's a standard practice followed by Omega. When we found this watch on the body, it surprised us no end. We thought we had hit a dead end until we figured this bit about the serial number. With support from the Swiss authorities we found out that this watch was sold at the store at Interlaken. We sent our officers to Interlaken who were able to establish that this watch with the corresponding serial number was bought by you,' and then he paused. 'Mr Sarup, you had bought this watch from Time Out International in Interlaken. We have foolproof evidence. This is not a hunch.'

'What? Is this the same watch?' Deepak could not believe what he was hearing. The referee, the guy who he thought was a close friend, the person whom he and Savitha had gifted an Omega watch, for all his help, was a Naxalite. A Maoist leader. A rebel. His heart sank. It seemed as if someone had pulled the rug from under his feet. 'It can't be. This cannot be true...this cannot be true,' he muttered.

'Mr Sarup, this is true. You paid for this purchase through your credit card. We even have a copy of the charge slip. Would you want to see it?'

'No, it's fine.'

'Now would you want to tell us more about it, Mr Sarup? What do you know and how much do you know about this guy? What is your part in this entire movement? How are you involved in this?' This time Thakurta's voice was even more threatening. Deepak got worried.

'Couldn't it be that someone stole the watch from him, or possibly he sold it to someone? I know he was in some kind of financial trouble. His family was going through stress. His sister had come back from her husband's house because they could not pay the dowry that was demanded. Maybe to make ends meet, he sold it. And your Francis could be the guy he sold it to.'

'Maybe...,' Thakurta looked at the other investigator. 'File please.' He then turned to Deepak and said, 'Mr Sarup, I take your point. We have considered this aspect too.' And he handed a sheet to Deepak. "This has pictures of the deceased. While these are not clear, it's is not too difficult to identify the person. You may want to take a closer look.'

Deepak took the pictures from Thakurta. Without taking his eyes off Thakurta, he pulled out the document from the envelope. The moment he took it out, his face went pale as if blood had drained from his cheeks. Sweat broke out on his forehead and started streaming down from his eyebrows to the corner of his eyes.

Was it because he was seeing a badly mutilated body for the first time, or was it because he knew the person in the picture? He did not say. Was this some set-up? And finally when words escaped his mouth, Thakurta heard him whisper, "This is Anaka...my friend Anakadundhubi...the referee.'

M
ONDAY morning, at 5.30 a.m. Ronalds phone rang. He had just got out of bed. Whenever the phone rang at that hour, it always made him nervous. He believed a call at an unearthly hour invariably meant bad news.

'Mansi, what happened? Is everything ok?' he asked the caller.

'Ronald, I just got a call from
The Times of India
. They are carrying a very sensitive news item. I am shocked that they didn't even bother to inform us earlier. Now after today's edition has been printed and dispatched, they called me to let me know.' Mansi, the head of public affairs for GB2, was nervous as hell. The shiver in her voice made Ronald even more worried.

'What is it about, Mansi?'

'Ronald, do you have access to the internet at home?'

'Yes, I thought we left the Stone Age way behind,' Ronald was being sarcastic in the face of a crisis.

'Why can't this idiot reply straight and keep his smart comments to himself? thought Mansi. 'Can you log in to
The Times of India
website? This is front page news in the national edition.'

'What is it about, Mansi? You are making me nervous.'

'Ronald, I would rather have you see it first.'

'Ok, wait,' said Ronald as lie went to his table and opened the laptop. 'Tell me the URL.'

'
www.timesofindia.com
'
, Mansi replied.

And there it was...'DANGEROUS NAXALITE HELD IN MUMBAI – sensitive data recovered from residence of the senior executive of Greater Boston Global Bank.'

Ronald's eyes popped out when he saw that. He didn't know what hit him. He started reading through the article.

'What the fuck?' muttered Ronald as he moved from the first paragraph to the second.

'In a clear pointer to growing urbanisation of the Naxalite movement, early Sunday afternoon Deepak Sarup, a senior manager with the Greater Boston Global Bank (GB2), was arrested from his Chembur residence. Deepak has been accused of assisting the Naxalite movement in Central India spread its tentacles in Mumbai. Sensitive data regarding possible terror attacks by the Naxals in Mumbai were recovered from a laptop seized from his residence.

'What stated off as a rural uprising in 1967 in a distant village of Naxalbari (from where the term Naxalite movement derives its name) resonated on Sunday in Chembur, an up-market suburb in Mumbai. It is now clear that this movement is no longer restricted to the tribal villages of West Bengal, Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh. It's now made its way to the up-market towns and holds in its talons the rich and the famous. Naxal sympathisers are no longer based in villages. Now they are educated, sophisticated and city-bred.

"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.