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“India has put the heat on Pakistan after a long time. They are simply starving for intelligence.”
A large number of HUJI volunteers have been infiltrated in Assam and West Bengal with a view to establishing Islamist modules and to prepare the vulnerable local Muslims for armed struggle.
The second person I contacted was Dhirubhai Ambani, the billionaire industrialist. I had known him for a while through a Delhi based common friend. Ambani was amazed to see a comparatively junior officer approaching him on mundane matters like opening up the roadblock to my meeting with Bal Thackrey, the Shiv Sena supremo, Keshu Bhai Patel, a BJP leader from Gujarat and Chhabil Das Mehta, than Chief Minister of Gujarat.
Narasimha Rao had earned the displeasure of the tycoon on several counts, including showering favour on his opponents like Nusli Wadia, a grandchild of Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the father of Pakistan and also on the house of the Ruiyas.
Around June 1994 a trouble-shooter of the Reliance Group approached me with an unusual request. The Reliance Group was bent upon proving that Nusli Wadia possessed 3 passports, a British and a Pakistani one, in addition to the Indian passport. They wanted the Union Home Ministry to initiate a criminal case against Bombay Dyeing under Passport Act.
But my elder son, who passed out from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad in 1994 with flying colours had suddenly decided to join the Reliance Group instead of opting for a US multinational. He said the radiant eyes and indomitable spirit of the elder Ambani impressed him and he thought he could make a nice career with them.
For the first time I realised that I had faced a conflict of interest situation. My wife and I succeeded in persuading our son to quit the Reliance Group. He joined Proctor & Gamble and went away to Jeddah with a fatter salary and perquisites. The senior Ambani was hurt by the sudden action of my son and I felt that our relationship had started cooling off.
The famous or infamous ISRO espionage case had arisen out of interception of a Maldivian national Mariyam Rasheeda.
Amongst the scientists the names of D. Sasikumaran, Nambinarayan, and Deputy Director LPSC had figured prominently.