Story of their Assassins continues ………….

Tyagi’s march in the criminal world continued relentlessly with umpteen bank robberies, kidnappings for ransom, hired killings and so on. He would kill for money with no remorse, spreading a reign of terror in north Bihar.

Having agreed to carry out the kill for the ISI, MS dispatched Tyagi to Delhi with the promise that weapons would be delivered to him there once his team and he were ready for the hit. Tyagi arrived in Delhi and put together a small team of local goons without any criminal records. The Delhi Police had no clue about their criminal propensities. Tyagi, along with his rookie gang members, carried out a recce of the journalists’ residences and their office. Tyagi was in regular touch with his ISI handlers, who were based in Kathmandu. Fortunately, a telephone call that he made to a number in Nepal in connection with this conspiracy was intercepted by one of the central intelligence agencies of the Government of India. The intercept was shared with the Special Cell of Delhi Police, which promptly began to monitor all numbers that were being called from the Nepal number and those calling it.

It was early May 2001. I was posted as a joint director in the Economic Offences Wing of the CBI, having already completed nearly eight years of my deputation in the organization. I had maintained close links with my parent force—the Delhi Police—particularly with its counterterrorism wing, the Special Cell. My team in the CBI and officers from the cell had carried out several successful operations jointly. Consequently, in true esprit de corps, we freely shared details of our work with one another and sought mutual help as and when necessary. I was thus privy to the developments in the operation to save the Tehelka duo and arrest their assassins before they struck.


To be continued ………….