With the recruitment of five ‘intelligence agents’ for Operation Trojan Horse, Shekhar began engaging, almost on a daily basis, with their CTC ‘handlers’, Somaiya and Sawant, to give shape to the fledgling operation. He asked them to instruct the five – Atharv, Anant, Nirav, Rohit and Sahil – on the need to create a plausible alibi for their work with CTC, which would involve years of secret, perilous work in India and abroad and long absences. He told the handlers that the agents must inform their families that they had bagged lucrative jobs with multinational corporates in Dubai or any other city in the Middle East. The agents were asked to also tell their families that while they would be staying overseas for prolonged periods, they would keep in touch with them and send a portion of their salaries regularly.

20. BUNGALOW NUMBER 105

20

BUNGALOW NUMBER 105

Roughly a kilometre and a half to the north of India Gate lies bungalow number 105. It sits at the corner where the bustling, tree-lined Copernicus Marg and Chamberlain Road meet.

To the average passerby, the bungalow, despite the sprawling grounds in which it is built, would not merit a second glance. Indeed, it may seem like an oddity in the midst of its well-appointed neighbouring bungalows, which are visual treats. Their façades, boundary walls and French windows wear fresh coats of paint in shades of white and orange. A peek inside their compounds reveals manicured lawns, flower beds, walls festooned with bougainvillea, fleets of luxury cars and uniformed private guards in their specially constructed cabins at the gates.

Bungalow number 105, on the other hand, with its plain white façade and boundary walls, looks stuck in a time warp, forlorn. It has only a few windows, almost as if they were added as an afterthought.

It sits at the centre of a large campus. Apart from the bungalow, there is no other noteworthy structure inside. There is a garage, with a car or two parked, but they are unremarkable in terms of the colour, make and model. The grass on the lawns is unevenly cut and could do with a regular supply of water. There are no flower beds.

The black paint on the entrance gates is peeling off. The white paint that covers the entire bungalow has turned grey-brown where it is exposed to the rains and the scorching summer sun.