Two watchmen wearing shabby blue uniforms sit in front of the garage, their eyes trained on the gates. Apart from the watchmen, there is no sign of life or human activity either in the bungalow or the compound. No one can be seen on the lawns, in the portico on the ground floor or on the balcony and verandah on the first floor. The windows remain closed at all times. The cars in the garage do not budge from their spots. No visitor’s vehicle is found parked at the gates. There are no sounds of kids cracking with laughter coming through the bungalow’s walls; young men and women, in business suits or casuals, do not leave or enter; grannies and grandpas are not to be seen out on their daily stroll.

It was at this bungalow that Atharv, Anant and Nirav arrived at 5 a.m. on 1 May 2000.

Somaiya had instructed Atharv to get out of the taxi 500 metres before the bungalow and to then walk around to the back of the compound to a small, inconspicuous gate located in the service lane, where they were to wait for a ‘receiver’.

After waiting for the receiver for about twenty minutes, Atharv and his companions ran out of patience. They scaled the walls and jumped over. Moments later, they saw two security guards running towards them, batons in their hands. The guards attacked them with the batons, letting out a volley of the choicest expletives in Hindi.

Atharv took two blows on his arms but managed to snatch one of the batons and land a few punches on its wielder. The second guard kept raining blows on the other two, Anant and Nirav, and eluded their grasp.

Just then the receiver, a tall man clad in navy blue hooded track pants, arrived and began screaming at the guards for mistaking the guests for intruders.

‘Guests hain!’ the receiver shouted. Identifying himself as Sunil Singh, he took the trio inside the bungalow after apologizing to them for the guards’ gaffe. The guards retreated to their cots outside the garage. A portable CCTV monitor lay on one of the cots.

Unknown to Atharv and his two companions, Sahil and Rohit were already at the bungalow. They had arrived there at 3 a.m. as per Sawant’s instructions. It was pitch dark then. There had been no receiver at the gate for them either, and the duo had also scaled the walls to jump over. They had been greeted by three dogs who had come charging out of nowhere to attack the boys as soon as they entered the compound. The black German Shepherds were barely visible in the dimly lit backyard. The duo had run for their lives, zigzagging across the grounds, trying to elude the lunges of the lean canines. They had charged back to the wall they had scaled, climbed it and stood on top, out of the dogs’ reach.