‘Salim must have gone there to meet or receive the explosives from his contact. The explosives must have been smuggled in via the sea. They could have been loaded on to a speedboat off Keti Bunder, near Karachi, and dropped off on the Gujarat coast. A fishing trawler could have received the consignment to hand over to Salim so he could bring it back to Hyderabad by road,’ Shekhar was thinking aloud while puffing on his cigarette.

‘Yes, could be, sir,’ Rathod said.

‘Have Salim’s vehicles picked up immediately and call in a forensic team from the Central Forensic Science Laboratory. We have to look for hidden compartments and the presence of explosives, narcotics and DNA samples like hair strands to establish who all have used it recently,’ Shekhar told Anvay.

‘By the time I confront you again, Salim, I will have you figured out. No more hide-and-seek games, you will be begging for mercy,’ Shekhar said grimly.

13. POULTRY FARM YIELDS 143 CHICKENS, 380 EGGS, 2 PAKISTANI ‘GUESTS’

13

POULTRY FARM YIELDS 143 CHICKENS, 380 EGGS, 2 PAKISTANI ‘GUESTS’

‘Aao Salim miyan, have a seat,’ Shekhar said as two guards brought Salim to the interrogation room for the second time that day. It was around 8 p.m. As Salim took a step towards a wooden chair, one of the guards kicked it away. The other guard and Shekhar laughed.

‘You came here to kill. You expect a chair to sit? Sit on the floor!’ Shekhar said.

Once Salim sat on the floor, Shekhar spoke again. ‘And you are also a liar. I asked you for all the details related to your bombing plan in Hyderabad but you are a sly and dishonest character. You did not reveal anything about where the explosives are and who your accomplices are in the conspiracy! You lied and said there is nothing to reveal. But, well, your sidekick, Moosa gave away all your secrets. Tu gaya,’ Shekhar said.

‘I have no plans that Moosa would know about,’ Salim said flatly, unblinking.

‘Aren’t you planning to bomb the Ganesh Chaturthi procession? Isn’t that why you wanted the sewage works’ contract? So you could plant explosives in the manholes along the route of the procession that could then be triggered during the procession?’ Shekhar raised his voice. ‘Moosa knows all your secrets. And the man who supplied you the explosives in Gujarat sang too. I know about your trip to Gujarat on 1 June. No point in hiding, Salim, my foot is on your neck!’

The claims about Moosa and the tracking of the Gujarat supplier were lies, shots in the dark to shake Salim up. They hit their mark.

‘I am a foot soldier. I did what I was told. Babaji said to kill as many people as possible, to let them burn,’ Salim said.