Aditya shrugged his shoulders, ‘Ton of flesh, I guess.’
‘Mr Kesavan. Please remember that what I am about to tell you is classified information. It might lead to uncomfortable questions if word gets out. The hijackers have demanded the release of Sajid Mir and three other accomplices of his, and…’ he paused. ‘This is where you come in. They have demanded a billion dollars in Indian currency.’
‘A billion dollars!’ Aditya almost choked. ‘That’s six thousand five hundred crores!’
‘Yes, correct. Thereabouts.’
‘Have we agreed to pay?’
‘Initially we thought we wouldn’t, but now after the interference of the Swiss government, we have to. These rogues will use our own money to infiltrate our valley, and buy out our own people. Bastards. They were earlier doing it with counterfeit money. But of late, counterfeiting has stopped. You had a role there. You blacklisted Le Da Spire. To win back the favour of the Indian government, Le Da Spire stopped supplying paper to Pakistan currency presses. Pakistan, as a result, was unable to churn out counterfeit notes in the same manner that they used to. And given that Carlo Pinotti was the guy who cut off the currency paper supply to them, it becomes crucial that his identity is kept a secret.’
‘My lips are sealed, sir. In any case, it will be irrelevant for the media to talk to me about this tragedy.’
‘It is not a tragedy yet, Mr Kesavan,’ Tarun Katiyal stepped into the conversation. ‘But I am very eager to make it one for them. And would have, had it not been for this ass – Carlo Pinotti.’
‘Anyway, Mr Katiyal and our Finance Minister will brief you on what needs to be done.’ And the Prime Minister stepped out of the room.
₹
‘Mr Kesavan,’ the Finance Minister began. ‘The PM does not want to pay ₹6,500 crores to the hijackers from the tax taxpayers’ money.’
‘What is the option, sir?’ Aditya asked. ‘If we have to pay that much, the money has to come from somewhere.’
‘It will come from our vaults, Mr Kesavan. The RBI’s vaults.’ When the Finance Minister said this, the RBI Governor looked at him, surprised.
Seeing the look on Kesavan’s face, the FM added, ‘Why are you looking so surprised? It is not your personal money I am talking about. We will pull out six-and-a-half thousand crores from the vaults of the Reserve Bank of India. But no one can come to know of this.’
‘How can that be done?’
‘Come on, Mr Kesavan, I can’t be telling you that. Currency reconciliation across the country is a major area of concern for the Reserve Bank of India. At any point in time we find it difficult to reconcile the amount of cash we are holding across all our currency chests. We barely manage to do it for our year closures. If we pull out six-and-a-half thousand crores, no one will even realize. It will be a rounding-off error. We print millions of notes, a few hundred thousand notes will hardly cause a flutter.’
‘But we will have to put it back sometime. How will we do it?’
‘We have time till next June to figure that out. A year is a long time, my friend,’ he said, and then walked close to Aditya. ‘Keep a tab on the serial numbers. Le Da Spire will print those notes with the same serial numbers and give it back to us. We can then replace them the way we took them out. That’s the least they can do for us, given the mess their chief is costing us.’
‘Won’t there be two notes with the same serial number floating in the economy, then?’
‘What is the chance, Mr Kesavan, that the notes that the Pakistani infiltrators distribute in Kashmir make their way back to a person holding another note with the same serial number? Come on, Mr Kesavan. Basic probability will show you that this is almost impossible. Possible, but improbable.’
Aditya nodded. ‘This seems like a good idea. But what will I give as a reason to take out six-and-a-half thousand crores?’
‘Show it as a transfer from the RBI’s issue office to your currency chest – the currency chest which is farthest from your vault in terms of travel time. Reconciliation gaps will arise. But then reconciliation gaps either get closed at year ends, or when someone files an RTI query. Don’t worry about either of those. In your records, you can show that the money was transferred at my insistence. Anyway, when Le Da Spire returns the money, we will show them as returns from the currency chests.’
Aditya nodded. He knew he had no choice but to follow orders.
67
Twenty-four hours later
DELHI
In India, none of the currency printing presses have vaults of their own. Money printed there gets loaded onto security trucks and despatched to the RBI issue office. The RBI issue office then despatches it to the four thousand-odd currency chests – most of which are designated State Bank of India vaults. These currency chests further supply cash to various banks and the branches of those banks across the length and breadth of the country. None of the currency chests was likely to be holding cash in excess of the amount that had to be sent to Kandahar in exchange for Carlo Pinotti, and of course, the other two hundred and eighty-three passengers.
The RBI cash-issue offices were likely to be holding that amount though. Particularly the larger ones. The Delhi RBI issue office was one such unit.
Currency from these issue-office vaults was often transferred to the currency chests through private trucks, containers, or even by air. They were guarded by CISF personnel, though the government often rented containers and security vans/trucks from private parties to transfer the cash. It was a high-security activity and was never publicized.
That night, two people – the currency officer of the issue office at RBI Delhi and the ED in charge of currency management, Rajdeep Sarkar – were woken up by calls from the PMO, asking them to report to their desks immediately. It was an emergency situation.
The RBI Governor was already waiting for them when they reached their offices.
‘Six thousand five hundred crores! It will almost wipe us clean, sir. We will run out of thousand-rupee notes in Delhi,’ Rajdeep Sarkar argued with the Governor.
‘Do we have a choice? If it has to be done, it has to be done,’ Aditya Kesavan tried to convince the Executive Director. But he knew this was a big risk. What if something went wrong and the world realized that ransom was paid to the terrorists to secure a release? Even worse, what if the disappearance of six thousand five hundred crores was picked up by everyone, but no one knew where the money went? Everyone would assume that he was to blame. It could devolve on his head.
‘Listen,’ Aditya said. ‘We have to do this. But we also have to protect ourselves. At least till the time the money comes back into the system. The FM promises me that the money will be back in a month. You can go on leave from tomorrow so that you won’t need to be answerable to anyone on this.’
‘Correct,’ agreed Sarkar. ‘But I will be requiring authorization at the highest level to release the funds,’ he insisted.
‘Not a problem,’ Aditya said, as he pulled out his phone and dialled a number. ‘Sir, Rajdeep Sarkar needs a confirmation from you. Grateful if you could give him your instructions. We have checked. We have adequate cash in the Delhi issue office. Once he has your go-ahead, we can start planning the despatch.’ He handed over the phone to Rajdeep Sarkar. The latter spoke to the FM for a minute, and hung up.
‘Fine,’ he said. ‘I will authorize the release of cash. But how do we transport it out without it raising eyebrows?’
‘First things first,’ said Aditya and pressed a few buttons on the phone. The entire recording of the call with the FM started playing out. ‘I recorded the call. It is your safety net. Mine too. Our get-out-of-jail-free card.’
Rajdeep smiled. ‘Thank you, sir.’
‘Don’t thank me. As I said, I am also protecting myself through this. Anyway, we do not have much time. The cash needs to be loaded on a military plane, which is on standby at the Palam Airport. They should be in a position to leave at a moment’s notice. There is a possibility that we
might not even need this cash. But the PM has asked us to be ready and on standby.’ And they walked towards the Currency Manager. He was not a part of the conversation till that moment. He was not aware of what was to be done. Aditya explained to him that they had to transfer six-and-a-half thousand crores the next afternoon to Palam Airport. As per the FM’s instructions, the cash was to be shown as being sent to distant currency chests. Aditya signed off on an instruction which authorized the release of currency to be transferred to currency chests in Guwahati, Shillong, Agartala, Andaman, Kolkata and two remote chests in Bihar and UP. He cleverly added the words ‘as per the instruction of the Finance Minister’, just before he put his seal of approval for the release.
When the Currency Manager saw the release note, he shook his head. ‘Sir,’ he said. ‘We will have a logistical problem, sir.’
‘Elaborate.’ Aditya didn’t understand what the problem was.
‘Cash as you know is transported in large trunks,’ he began explaining to Aditya and Sarkar. ‘Each trunk can hold five hundred bundles. If we have all the money in thousand-rupee notes, we will have five crores per trunk. Our currency carrying vans can hold fifty to sixty trunks per vehicle, which makes it ₹300 crore per truck. We need around twenty mini-trucks to ferry the cash. We don’t have that many in Delhi on standby,’ the Currency Manager of the Issue Office volunteered.
‘How many do you have readily available?’
‘Not many. At most five or six. We don’t normally need so many. For this transfer, we will need more, unless we want these trucks to make multiple trips.’
‘Multiple trips may not be appropriate and might compromise our security. Once we begin, we have to get over with it quickly.’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘What’s the alternative? We can hire private security armoured vans for transfer of cash. We have done that in the past, haven’t we?’
‘Yes, sir. We have done that in the past.’
‘Let’s talk to them and see if we can get them to help us out. Whom do we normally use?’ he said and added, ‘In any case, we don’t want too many people to know. Also, all this has to be done quickly, quietly and without
much fuss.’
‘Brinks Arya, Writers, CMS, Deekay and a few others. We don’t have any particular preference. We go with whosoever has vehicles readily available.’
Aditya nodded. ‘Okay, fine. Let Rajdeep Sarkar handle it. You get the cash packed and ready. We might need to move quickly on this one.’
‘Sir.’ The Currency Manager nodded his head. He was just an instruction follower. And the RBI Governor giving him instructions directly was a big deal for him.
Aditya said thank you to the man and walked towards the exit. But then he turned and asked, ‘You have GPS trackers on all these vans, right? Just to make sure that we are secure.’
‘Yes, sir. All our vans have GPS trackers installed. And we have a central security room, where we can track the location of every van at any given point in time. When we hire private vehicles, we install GPS devices on them before we send them out with cash. So all vehicles are covered. They are also insured and come with their own private security.’
‘Good,’ said Aditya. ‘We can’t afford anyone taking off with this cash. You keep it ready and wait for instructions.’
Once outside the room, he pulled out his phone and dialled a number. After the initial pleasantries, he narrated the entire hijack drama and the fact that the government was settling with the hijackers by releasing the terorists and paying the ransom.
‘A billion dollars?’ Danish Khosla yelled into the phone when Aditya mentioned it to him. ‘That’s a lot of cash.’
‘Indeed,’ agreed Aditya. ‘I am surprised we agreed to pay this amount to secure the release of the hostages.’
‘Well, not hostages, my friend. One hostage. Carlo Pinotti,’ Khosla corrected him. This is not being done for the 280-odd fliers. Make no mistake. This is being done for that one passenger,’ Khosla reiterated. ‘Some lives are more precious than the others. Carlo Pinotti holds more secrets than any other living individual. Everyone, including our politicians, cutting across party lines, needs him.’
‘I have learnt more about these things in the last year than what I learnt over a lifetime in academics, Khosla,’ Aditya said and smiled wryly.
‘When do you have to give them the money?’
‘ASAP. The barter, i.e. Sajid Mir, three other terrorists in our custody and the money, all have to be delivered to them in the next forty-eight hours. That’s what I remember the PM telling us.’
‘Have you considered the logistics of transporting six-and-a-half thousand crores?’ When Khosla asked him the question, Aditya didn’t respond. After a prolonged silence, Khosla asked him again, ‘You there?’
After another ten seconds of deafening silence, Aditya spoke. ‘Why do you think I called you?’
68
24 October 2016
DELHI
The hijack dominated the front page of most of the newspapers in the country.
The government had put out a statement which only disclosed one part of the hijackers’ demands to the media – the release of Sajid Mir. The press release made no mention of the cash ransom, neither did it bring up the Carlo Pinotti angle. So far, the media was ignorant about both things.
By late evening, a deal had been struck. The Taliban supportive government in Afghanistan had played mediator, though not an unbiased one. The demand for the release of terrorists was dropped from four names to just two – Sajid Mir and his nephew. The billion dollars ransom was pared down to five thousand crores. Beyond that, the terrorists refused to negotiate, and there was nothing that the Indian government could do. They had zero leverage on the terrorists and to make things worse, the Swiss government was also tightening the screws. There was nothing left to do but cave.
By midnight, a handcuffed Sajid Mir was brought to the Jaipur Airport from the Rajasthan Jail. He boarded an army helicopter, which ferried him to Palam Airport in Delhi. An air force plane was waiting at the Delhi airport. As soon as Sajid Mir boarded, his nephew, who had been brought in from another jail in the south, joined him. The Home Minister, Gopinath Shinde, and Finance Minister Siddharth Pande boarded the flight along with three of their advisers. A large contingent of army commandos too came in. The cash had already been loaded under the RBI Governor’s supervision. Aditya Kesavan was at the airport to manage seamless delivery of the cash and to take care of any issues that might crop up.
In the wee hours of 26 October, the large AN32 carrier took off from Palam Airport and made its way to Kandahar.
Before leaving for the airport to board the AN32, Siddharth Pande and Gopinath Shinde had held a quick meeting with the Prime Minister.
‘Hope this plan doesn’t backfire,’ Pande said, worried. If the public found out about the ransom payout, the repurcussions would definitely hurt their chances in the upcoming elections next year.
‘How long do you think before this money makes its way back to disrupt economy and life in sensitive areas?’ the PM asked. He knew that the money being fed back into Kashmir would mean increased insurgency and enhanced unrest in the valley.
‘My best guess is, fifteen days to a month,’ the FM said. ‘It will take them a while to transport this cash back to Pakistan. It is a lot of cash, and if they don’t manage it carefully, it can also make them implode. Greed can lead to infighting. That said, even if none of that happens, I don’t see this cash coming back into our country before fifteen days.’
‘Hmm.’ The PM nodded and stood up, extending his hand to shake Pande’s. ‘Go carefully, Pande. Return safely. Bring back our people. They have placed their faith and their lives in our hands.’ The PM’s eyes grew moist as he spoke.
The Home Minister’s phone beeped. Sajid Mir and his nephew had reached Palam Airport. The flight was ready to depart. It was time for them to leave.
69
25 October 2016
&n
bsp; KANDHAHAR/DELHI
Celebratory gunshots rang around the Kandahar airport as the Indian air force plane carrying the cargo landed at the break of dawn. The hectic parleys led by the National Security Adviser and his team bore fruit and the release of passengers went off smoothly. The hijackers exited the aircraft through the cockpit emergency exit and made their way to the safety of Taliban-occupied Kandahar.
By 9.30 a.m., IC-814 carrying the two ministers as well as all the passengers and crew members landed in Delhi. The Prime Minister was at the airport to receive them. It was an emotional occasion for everyone.
For the next couple of days, the government’s popularity soared. Television channels and newspapers were full of stories on the hijack and rescue operation. Almost everyone commended the Prime Minister for having risked releasing the terrorists to ensure the safety of the passengers.
Carlo Pinotti, who was part of the released contingent had hated every minute of the attention. He calmly, presented himself as a Swiss tourist who had unfortunately got caught in the hijack drama. He was hurriedly whisked away by Pande’s entourage and safely deposited in the confines of a five-star hotel in Lutyens Delhi. Within the next forty-eight hours, he left Delhi by a chartered flight, which was a departure from his normal practice of travelling commercial. But before he left, he thanked the Indian PM and Siddharth Pande, and promised to work towards making good the currency that had been paid to the terrorists.
‘That may not be necessary,’ the Prime Minister said when Carlo Pinotti mentioned a plan to print and supply the five thousand crores. A shocked Pande threw the PM a sharp look. Five thousand crores was a lot of money. It had to come back into the system.
He waited till Pinotti had left, and then turned to the Prime Minister. ‘Sir, with due respect, we need that money back.’
‘I know.’ The PM nodded
‘But you told Pinotti that it may not be necessary for him to pay us back.’
Don't Tell the Governor Page 17
