Rathod was curious about the revolver as its chamber was smaller than that of the Webley & Scott revolver that he carried as a service weapon. He opened the chamber, but instead of a cartridge, he found a small roll of white paper about the size of a bullet. He quickly unrolled the paper.

The only thing scrawled on the paper was ‘01675-664444, Malerkotla’. Rathod took a photograph of the notation on the paper, took leave of the BSF commander after thanking him again, and caught the next flight to Delhi. Inquiries revealed that the number on the scrap of paper was the landline number of a PCO in Malerkotla, Sangrur, Punjab.

The Chanakyapuri exchange of MTNL was utilized to gather information on all the calls made from and received by the PCO in Malerkotla during the last few months. Several of the numbers investigated turned out to belong to known LeT operatives, including Lashkar boss (its chief of India operations) Al-Cheema’s Jamaat-ud-Dawa Lahore office, which served as the LeT’s command-and-control headquarters.

Over the next few weeks, an analysis of the call logs threw up three numbers in particular. One was Al-Cheema’s landline number, the second belonged to the Malerkotla PCO and the third was a Hyderabad mobile number. There was a set pattern to the calls. Al-Cheema would first call the Hyderabad number, after which the man at the other end would call up the Malerkotla PCO. The person in Malerkotla would then dial Al-Cheema’s number. The pattern suggested that the man in Hyderabad held a position of authority in the Lashkar ranks in India.

The Malerkotla PCO was put under 24x7 surveillance and was closely watched by Anvay and four ‘watchers’ under his command. A man was nabbed on the fourth day while conversing with someone who answered the call made by him to Al-Cheema’s Lahore landline.

The man sang easily after receiving the ‘treatment’ from Rathod’s team of interrogators at the CTC headquarters in Delhi.

He disclosed his identity as Pakistani LeT operative Furqan Khwaja, aged thirty-three. He had been sent to India two years ago by Al-Cheema and instructed to settle down in Malerkotla’s Bashir Town Colony and wait for further orders. He had told his neighbours that he was a school dropout and a radio repairer.

The man who answered the Hyderabad mobile phone number, Salim Khwaja Amjad, was a senior Lashkar operative who had come to India in 1995. He was Furqan’s commander and was directly in touch with Al-Cheema. At times, the commander would include Furqan in his conversations with Al-Cheema.