"Gifts from the Gulf" continues...

It was Rajdeep Sardesai, then working with NDTV, on the line. He wanted to know whether I had arrived with Aftab Ansari. I tried to be evasive and asked him why he wanted the information. He said Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee had announced at a public meeting in Meerut that the man behind the attack on the American Centre in Kolkata had been apprehended in Dubai and was being brought to Delhi. So the news of this successful operation had already been conveyed to the people of India by the Prime Minister himself! After all the PM had played a small but critical role in the operation leading up to the fugitive’s arrest. I had no option but to confirm the news to Rajdeep.

I got off the aircraft jumping with joy, almost as if I had scored the winning run in the Cricket World
Cup Final! Some of my colleagues from the Delhi Police and the Intelligence Bureau were waiting
on the tarmac. They were not only my colleagues but my well-wishers too, who felt genuinely proud and happy with my success. While the two captives were taken by other members of my team to the CBI Headquarters, I drove to my residence with the colleagues who had come to receive me. My wife had arranged a huge cake to celebrate my return and the successful accomplishment of the
mission. Everyone helped himself generously to the cake and there was much rejoicing at home that evening.

The mood at CBI Headquarters was similarly upbeat. After all, not often are such catches made. Officers from Intelligence Agencies were keen to speak to Aftab Ansari first. We allowed it without
any ado. Meanwhile, I debriefed my Director on what all had happened in Dubai. He asked me to
proceed to the Press Information Bureau (PIB) at Shastri Bhavan where a joint press conference was to be addressed by officials from Ministries of Home and External Affairs to announce the arrest and
deportation of Aftab Ansari.

To be continued...