It happened in early 1988 or 1989 (my memory is not as good as it used to be). Remember that those days important govt. establishments in the whole of the country used to be on alert due to threats from Khalistani and LTTE terrorists.

One evening, my colleague and I were working late when the lights went out. I was preparing a magnetic tape containing Bank’s reporting data to be carried by me to RBI in Mumbai by an early morning flight the next day. The IT Dept. had backup power for its operations, but the printer and the magnetic tape drive were not on backup power as they had substantially higher power load requirement than the backup system could support. Since my work had come to a standstill in the absence of power, my colleague and I decided to have an early dinner to save time later-on. I was anyway going to work till very late in the night to complete the task and every minute saved was crucial.

We had our candle-light dinner at a nearby restaurant and by the time we returned, in an hour or so, the power supply had still not been restored. It had become dark by that time and as we entered the office compound and proceeded towards the building entrance Mohammad, the guard on duty, started shouting alerting us that terrorists have entered the compound. He was shining a faint torch at us and as we reached near him we noticed that he had locked the main security grill and was standing inside with gun at the ready in his hand, ready for action.

A few people in a taxi entered the compound to attack our office

On enquiry he told us that just as it was getting dark a few people in a taxi entered the compound with the intention to attack our office. He raised an alarm and alerted the policemen on duty at the District Treasury (which was in the same compound) and that the policemen have captured them. In the darkness he signalled us towards a cot in front of the treasury office. Going near we could make out two people sitting on the cot surrounded by four or five policemen. All of them were sitting quietly and the policemen told me that the so called ‘terrorists’ speak Gujarati and claim to be taxi drivers from Ahmedabad.

I asked Mohammad if he has informed Bank’s Chief Security Officer Brig. Chaturvedi. He told me that the telephone in the office, that he had access to, was not functioning and hence he has not been able to contact anyone. He also told that he was in fact waiting for our return so that he could ask us for guidance. For me the immediate action point was to urgently inform the CSO so that he can come and takeover. It was Mrs. Chaturvedi who picked up the phone and informed me that Brig. Chaturvedi had gone to the Shiv temple and will return only late in the night. On informing her that it was a security emergency, she pleaded her helplessness and told that she will inform Brig. Chaturvedi when he returns. She also suggested that we contact Mr. Upadhyay the Security-cum-Liaison Officer. I phoned Mr. Upadhyay and told him to rush to office to attend to the emergency.

As we were waiting for Mr. Upadhayay to turn up (and he took his own time) my colleague and I again went outside to have a look at the terrorists. I wanted to talk to the terrorists as I half expected them to betray their Punjabi accent even when they could speak in Gujarati. As I chatted them up they explained their side of the story. They informed me that they were taxi drivers from Ahmedabad and in the morning they had picked up passengers from Ahmedabad Airport and brought them here. They had first gone to a hotel near the Bus Depot and had come with one ‘saheb’ to our office. While they parked their taxi on the road outside, ‘saheb’ went inside . They were waiting there till late evening. However, after the lights went out and it became dark, they decided to bring the taxi inside the compound to make it easy for ‘saheb’ to find them. As soon as they entered the compound the guard raised the alarm and they were apprehended.

I knew of one person who could get away with travelling by a taxi

Both the persons were speaking chaste Gujarati and I could rule out them being Punjabis. My antenna was raised when on enquiry they told me that the passengers were from Delhi as they had arrived on the Delhi-Ahmedabad flight. Those days it was rare for Bank officials to hire a taxi as the Bank expected them to travel by bus or by a shared taxi. However, I knew of one person who could get away with it and always hired a taxi from the Airport itself. I made further enquiries about the ‘saheb’, his looks, body built, dress etc. The person I had in mind always wore a safari suit. The description provided by the ‘terrorists’ exactly matched the person I had in mind.

By now I was getting a little convinced of their story and decided to investigate further, while we waited for Mr. Upadhayay to turn up. Even the policemen believed that the two were innocent but told me that they cannot let them go unless a Bank official gives a go ahead. So I decided to make enquiries at the hotel to corroborate their story. I, my colleague and two policemen got into their taxi and reached the hotel. Under the light of a kerosene lamp we inspected their register for people who had checked-in around the time stated by the ‘terrorists’. I  could not find the name of any Bank official. But it was quite possible that ‘saheb’ was not staying there, if he was who I thought he was, as his brother was living in the city at that time and he could be staying with him.

As soon as he saw policemen outside his door, he panicked

We, however, decided to investigate a person with a South Indian name who had checked in around that time. In the darkness, with the light of a lamp we climbed 3-4 floors and knocked on the door of the room. The door was opened by a man in a lungi-baniyan. As soon as he saw 7-8 people including a few policemen outside his door, he panicked. I thought he was going to faint and quickly introduced myself and calmed him down. I enquired how he had come from Ahmedabad and who were other persons accompanying him. He gave the details and positively verified the two ‘taxi drivers’. The Bank official he named was indeed the person I had in mind. He informed me that he had come with the official to discuss their credit facilities. We thanked him and apologised for disturbing him so late in the night and scaring him. He was okay by now.

Police ma sonpi diyo, chhapa ma aapi diyo

We came back to office and by this time Mr. Upadhyay had reached there and heard the story of the terrorists’ attack from Mohammad. He had telephoned the General Manager (Operations) about the attack. On hearing of the capture of the terrorists, the General Manager instructed him to hand them over to the police and inform the press (“police ma sonpi diyo, chhapa ma aapi diyo” – these were GM’s words). I was stunned. Firstly, on hearing of such a serious situation he had not bothered to immediately contact senior police officials of the city nor had he rushed to the office with other officials. I was told that he was busy with some celebrations at home (probably his grandchild’s birthday). Astonishing indeed.

Anyway, I decided to corroborate the terrorists’ story further with the head of Credit Dept. at that time. I phoned him and asked him if ‘saheb’ had visited Credit Dept. along with his client that day. He confirmed it and wanted to know why I was enquiring so late in the night? On listening to the story he laughed but was also surprised at the response of the General Manager.

The Chief Security Officer never turned up

Now that the story of the ‘taxi drivers’ was corroborated, I asked Mr. Upadhyay to advise the policemen to let them go. He refused pointing to the instructions of General Manager to him. I then gave him a note in writing addressed to the General Manager that I take full responsibility for having verified/corroborated the events/story personally and advising the Treasury police to release both the persons as they were innocent. On my advice the policemen were too happy to release both of them.

The Chief Security Officer of the Bank never turned up that night. His wife must have informed him of the emergency situation when he returned home.

In the next few hours I finished my work and flew to Mumbai early in the morning. On my return the next day I briefed the General Manager. With a wooden expression he just said ‘okay’. And that was it.

Looking back at the events of that night and the response of the senior officials of the Bank I was left wondering what if it were a real terrorist attack.