Many questions, few answers

Photos: Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi; the book cover;Prakash Patra; Rasheed Kidwai

‘The Scam That Shook a Nation —The Nagarwala Scandal’ explores how a Delhi branch of the State Bank of Indiain the 1970s was defrauded of Rs 60 lakh.

By Shevlin Sebastian

At 11.45 am on May 24, 1971, VedPrakash Malhotra, the chief cashier of the Parliament Street branch of theState Bank of India, got a call. The caller said, “Shri Haksar, secretary tothe Prime Minister of India, wants to talk to you.”  

“Put him through,” saidMalhotra. 

Haksar said, “The Prime Ministerof India wants Rs 60 lakh (today’s value: Rs 170.62 crore) to be sent forhighly secret work. She will send a person and you can hand over the money tohim.” 

Malhotra was not sure. ThenPrime Minister Indira Gandhi came on the line and confirmed it, stating thismoney had to be sent to Bangladesh on an Air Force plane. This time, Malhotrabecame convinced that the order had come from the highest office in theland.   

With the help of his colleagues,Malhotra collected the money and took it to the Free Church, which was verynear the bank. There he met a tall, fair man wearing an olive hat. Afterexchanging the correct code, they drove for a while in Malhotra’s governmentvehicle towards Palam airport. 

At the taxi stand on PanchsheelMarg, the man got out of the car and enlisted the help of a coolie to load thebox into the trunk of a Fiat taxi. He thanked Malhotra and asked him to go tothe Prime Minister’s office to get the receipt. 

When Malhotra went to the PrimeMinister’s official complex on 1 Akbar Road, he was surprised to discover thatIndira Gandhi had gone to Parliament. It was the first day of the secondsession of the seventh Lok Sabha. He told the security that he wanted to meetHaksar. But they told him Haksar was also in Parliament. 

So, Malhotra drove to Gate No 5of Parliament House and asked to see the PM. He was told both the PM and Haksarwere having lunch. Finally, at 1.30 pm, Malhotra met NK Seshan, the PM’sprivate secretary, and told him about what happened. Seshan informed the PM. Hecalled Haksar, who was in South Block who rushed to Parliament. When Malhotratold Haksar what had happened, the latter exclaimed, “This is an extraordinaryfraud.” Soon, the police launched an investigation. 

All this has been detailed inthe book, ‘The Scam that Shook a Nation — The Nagarwala Scandal’ by seniorjournalists Prakash Patra and Rasheed Kidwai. 

Thanks to the detailed researchby the authors, we can read the confessional statement by Nagarwala. 

Here is an extract: ‘The driverkept watching the road and saw that I was transferring big bundles of currencynotes into my suitcase and bag. I wanted him to see all this and feel uneasy,which he did. I abandoned the empty trunk and asked him to take me to ConnaughtPlace. Along the way, the driver was getting nervous and started askingquestions about the money. I offered him Rs 500 in cash and told him not tomention it to anybody, only so that in case the police came to him, he couldtell. I was sure at the time that this driver would safely lead the police tothe Parsi Dharamshala. And this is exactly what happened.’ 

The question that arises is: whydid Nagarwala want to get caught? 

KP Khanna, the judicialmagistrate first class in charge of the Chanakyapuri area, tried the case.Within hours, Nagarwala was sentenced to two years of rigorous imprisonmentwith a fine of Rs 2000. Nagarwala landed up in Tihar Jail as a ‘C’ classprisoner. 

Expectedly, there was agathering storm as the Opposition felt that Indira Gandhi was involved. One oftheir lawyers filed a revision petition. On June 21, Delhi Sessions Judge RNAggarwal set aside the conviction. 

This book is riveting, to saythe least. There were so many twists and turns. 

On November 20, 1971, six monthsafter discovering the hoax, Devinder Kumar Kashyap, 31, the chief investigator,died in a road accident near Mathura. The belief was that Kashyap, a 1967-batchIPS officer, who had just got married, knew too much and had been gotten ridof. However, the authors’ research has shown that it could have been anaccident. 

Following that tragedy, anothertwist takes place. On March 2, 1972, Nagarwala died of a heart attack at the GBPant Hospital on his 50th birthday. Again, suspicions were raised, although anautopsy revealed that no poison was present in the body.   

Other subjects which are coveredinclude an in-depth profile of Nagarwala and Malhotra, which traces their livesbefore the hoax, the political landscape during that period (1966-71), anddetails of the P Jagmohan Reddy Commission which investigated the hoax. BothIndira Gandhi and Morarji Desai also testified. 

In the Authors’ note, they said,‘The commission set up to probe the scam reached its conclusions, but itsassumptions are debatable.’ They also said that while there was an admission ofguilt, the identities of the real culprits remained hazy. The investigationprocess, they said, was too speedy to allay doubts.

In short, there were manyquestions but few answers.  

Both the writers, Prakash Patraand Rasheed Kidwai, are seasoned journalists with over three decades ofexperience. While Patra, a former President of the Press Club of India, doespolitical reporting, Kidwai covers government, politics, community affairs andHindi cinema. Kidwai has also published seven other books, including abiography of Sonia Gandhi.

(Published in the SundayMagazine, The Hindustan Times, All Editions)

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BookDetails

Title: ‘TheScam That Shook a Nation – The Nagarwala Scandal’

Authors: PrakashPatra and Rasheed Kidwai

Publisher:HarperCollins

Pages: 262

Price: Rs 399