It was 12.15 p.m., barely half an hour since Malhotra had received the phone call that would change his life forever. Malhotra was to meet the courier at 12.30 p.m. ‘I realized that it is better to let R.P. Batra know that in case I am delayed at the Prime Minister’s house, he should supervise my work in my absence,’ he would say in his statement to the police.
Malhotra drove back to inform Batra. ‘I came back and called Batra downstairs and said, “Brother, take care of my work.”’
Malhotra stopped the car across the road, barely 100 paces from SBI Parliament Street near the Free Church, a 1927 distinctive red-and-white neocolonial-style building. As he had been instructed on the phone, he got out of the car. ‘[A] tall, hefty, fair-complexioned person wearing an olive-green hat approached me and said, “I am Bangladesh babu.” And I replied, “I am Bar-at-Law.” He said, “Let us go,”’ Malhotra would say in his statement.
The two then got inside the Ambassador, but the car wouldn’t start. ‘I attempted. Then I asked him, “Do you know how to drive?” He said yes, and I said, “Please control the steering.”’
Malhotra got off and pushed the car. Once the engine started, the two men exchanged places, with Malhotra at the wheel again. They then drove towards Parliament.
‘I asked him where he had to go. He said, “Kitchener Road.” I did not know Kitchener Road. Then he said that he had to go to Palam airport. I recollected that the road leading to Palam was called Kitchener Road. Then I turned towards Gole Dak Khana and, then to Willingdon Hospital, and proceeded towards Palam,’ Malhotra later recalled in his statement.
The route the car had taken was Ashoka Road, Irwin Road, Willingdon Crescent and Sardar Patel Marg before it reached the crossing of Panchsheel Marg. This route was the fastest way to reach Palam. Malhotra said he volunteered to accompany him up to the Palam airport, but the man declined, saying, ‘It will not be proper.’
Sometime later, Malhotra said, the man told him he would hire a taxi. ‘It’s not proper if you accompany me because it is a top-secret matter. I have to catch an air force plane. So I will hire a taxi. You should straightaway go to the Prime Minister’s house. She will meet you at 1 p.m.’
The chief cashier said the man asked him to stop the car near the crossing of Panchsheel Marg, still more than halfway to the airport.
‘There was a taxi stand, and he asked me to stop the car there. He called for a taxi and a coolie to shift the box.’
Malhotra hesitated. ‘It’s national work and we can do it ourselves,’ he said. By then a Fiat taxi had driven up and the three of them, including the taxi driver, a turbaned Sikh, shifted the trunk from
the Ambassador to the Fiat’s trunk. Malhotra then handed over the keys of the cash trunk to the man. As he got into the taxi, the man, with folded hands, said, ‘My name is Aziz. Jai Bangladesh, Jai Bharat Mata.’
The man would later be traced and identified as Rustom Sorab Nagarwala, a former army captain.
Malhotra had a close look at the taxi’s number plate and noted down the number: DLT1622. He then got into the Ambassador.
Mission accomplished. He now had to meet the Prime Minister and collect the receipt from her.
Malhotra drove fast to meet the 1 p.m. deadline.