"Gifts from the Gulf" continues...

Since the following day was a Sunday, Raju asked the Inspector if he could visit the Pushkar Ji Temple of Lord Vishnu, located a couple of hours away from Jaipur and then come to him on Monday. The Inspector, though in a quandary, sensed honesty and earnestness in what Raju said. He acquiesced and approved of his plan.

Lo and behold, Inspector Shukla saw him waiting outside the CBI Headquarters on Monday
morning! When asked to explain his rather unbelievable and least expected behaviour, Raju told the CBI officer that he wanted to face trial in all cases against him and be done with them once and for all. He was tired of running from the law and wanted to lead a normal life after getting over with all matters pending against him. He was prepared to spend time in jail, if the courts so ordered. It was high time, he said, he did penance for his misdeeds and then spend time with his children peacefully.

This was a rarest of rare situations in the history of Indian crime when an underworld don had
decided to take a road least travelled. Usually hardened criminals like Raju Anadkat elude the
CBI or law-enforcement in general. Here was a situation when one of them was walking into the
CBI Headquarters to tell it all, instead of hiding and running from it or fighting it in courtrooms
for years.

As of today, Raju Anadkat leads a normal life in Rajkot. He is still facing trial in a few cases in
which he is on bail. His daughter studies at one of the Indian Institutes of Management, arguably the most coveted business schools in India. His son has a flourishing shipping business. The Court of the Almighty seems to have accepted his penance and granted him divine pardon! One does come across such odd characters during a long career in the police. Aftab Ansari, in the interim, has been sentenced to death in the American Centre Attack Case and awaits execution lodged in Alipore Central Jail, Kolkata.

To be continued...