But Babar missed spotting the black Tavera that was parked on the service road off the highway and passed by it. When the dark green Eicher van came within 200 metres of the Tavera, Deshmukh, who was watching the highway through his binoculars, shouted, ‘Our target has arrived, that green van far away is what we are looking for!’

Deshmukh and his colleagues took up positions along vehicles parked on both sides of the highway and waited for the Eicher van to come within the firing range of their AK-47s and Glock pistols.

When the van was only 100 metres away, Deshmukh and two other officers stepped on to the road and gestured at the van to stop. Saquib, who had seen them the moment the officers came on to the road, accelerated instead. Outsmarted, Deshmukh and his colleagues jumped back into their Tavera and began chasing the Eicher van. Five kilometres on, Deshmukh got a clear view of the Eicher van and he let loose a volley of AK-47 bullets at one of its tyres.

The van’s rear tyres took the shots, causing the wobbling van to veer off the road and turn turtle.

Deshmukh’s team reached the van and pointed their guns at the vehicle, then began extricating the occupants one by one. The fidayeen had all sustained minor concussions and were groggy.

Thanks to the impact of the accident, the cover concealing the cavity in which the weapons cache was stashed came loose. A shower of AK-47 ammunition came cascading out, even as Deshmukh was dialling Narula to update him about the interception. He requested the bomb disposal and detection squad and a forensics team to be sent as soon as possible to handle the cache and gather evidence.

After the bomb disposal squad arrived, the cavity was opened up entirely. The search yielded fifteen AK-47s, thirty-five kilos of RDX and thirty grenades. The ATCS officers were stunned to see the deadly stockpile that was being brought into Mumbai to unleash bloodshed and destruction. In the 1993 serial blasts, only twenty-seven kilos of RDX had been used, killing 257 people and destroying dozens of buildings.

The four fidayeen, who were barely conscious, were taken into ATCS custody and rushed to Parel’s KEM Hospital. The four would be questioned about the details related to their targets and the conspiracy, the masterminds and the source of the cache. Most importantly, they would be asked about the whereabouts of Babar, who had slipped out of the grasp of ATCS and CTC. He had managed to do so for the fourth time over the last three months.

Deshmukh then called up the Mumbai Police commissioner and Shekhar to update them. The fact that Babar had evaded the police net yet again irked both of them as by now they knew that Babar had the capability to rejig the LeT operation to deal a heavy blow despite the setback dealt to it.

54. A SUMMONS TO KARACHI

54

A SUMMONS TO KARACHI