""Ayeessa Kya?" (Is it so?)" continues...

A few senior officers in-charge of the area, where the incident of stone pelting had occurred, left the function hurriedly and rushed to the spot. However, eventually nothing untoward took place.

The following morning I was to take a flight back to Delhi. After checking-in at the airport I was waiting in the Departure Lounge when a middle-aged uniformed Sub Inspector of Police walked up to me and saluted me. He was obviously an officer deployed with the Airport Security. What he told me has remained with me until today. ‘‘‘Sir, you have no idea what you have done for us. Whenever we would go to arrest a criminal, we would get mocked and jeered at by the common people.’’’ The uniformed cop continued: ‘‘‘Invariably, people would say: If you cops have the guts, first go and arrest Latif and then come after us. Sir, with the arrest of Latif, we can now go with our heads held high in society.’’’ No other reward could be better than this comment by a fellow police officer.

Talking of rewards, the Government of Gujarat was gracious to recognize the contributions made by the Delhi Police and the CBI. Every participant of the operation received a Letter of Appreciation and handsome cash rewards. A formal ceremony was held at the Gujarat Bhavan in Delhi to felicitate us. The new Chief Minister of Gujarat, Suresh Mehta, especially flew in to Delhi to felicitate the Delhi Police personnel and CBI officers, which included me as well.
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To be continued...