A very strange and mysterious incident took place in the year 1971 at less than half a km from the Parliament and less than five km from the Supreme Court. On the scorching afternoon at around 12 pm, INR 60 lacs, was robbed from the State Bank of India, Parliament Street branch. It was one of biggest bank robberies of that times. The incident is no less than a plot of a masala Bollywood film and till date the enigma continues as a lot of questions rather all the questions are unanswered. The curiosity deepens as it allegedly involved officials from Prime Minister’s secretariat and the Bank. There are barely any references of this case in the media or in contemporaneous times and of course there was no social media at that time.

On May 24, 1971, Ved Prakash Malhotra, Chief Cashier of the State Bank of India, Parliament Street, New Delhi, was sitting in his room as usual. He received a telephone call impersonating as Shri Haksar, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister and informing him that the Prime Minister needed Rs. 60 lacs for Bangladesh. He was also told to keep the matter as ‘Top Secret’ and should bring out the amount himself. Since Malhotra was a bit hesitant, the caller asked him to talk to the Prime Minister herself. Thereafter, a female voice was heard which was supposedly of the Prime Minister, Mrs. Indira Gandhi who asked him to bring the money out of the bank himself and hand it over to the courier who should be recognised by the exchange of the Code words as “Bangladesh ka Babu” and “Bar at Law”. Malhotra was further assured that he would get the necessary voucher and receipt from the PM Office. Accordingly, Malhotra asked his deputies to bring the money from the strong room. Shri R.P. Batra, the Deputy Cashier, went to the strong room at about 12.30 p.m. and told Ruhel Singh, Deputy Head Cashier, that the Chief Cashier was to make a payment of Rs. 60 lacs. The amount was safely packed in a trunk and cash book was signed by Ruhel Singh. He demanded a voucher for the same but was assured that he would get it voucher from Malhotra. On Parliament Street near the Bible House, Malhotra met Rustom Sohrab Nagarwala, fair-complexioned and a tall guy who represented himself to be the courier sent by the Prime Minister. He also spoke the code words so Malhotra was confident that he was the right courier.

After handing over the money, Malhotra went straight to the PM’s residence to fetch the much-required vouchers but failed to get an access. After making various unsuccessful attempts to meet the PM, he came across Shri Haksar. Malhotra asked for the receipt for the amount in question but he was informed that no such demand was made by the PM or anyone else on her behalf. It came out as a shock to Malhotra, there upon he immediately contacted the senior officers of the police and apprised them of the facts and the circumstances in which he had been cheated. The police had launched a full-scale investigation titled Operation Toofan to probe into the matter1. Meanwhile Nagarwala reached Defense Colony with the trunk and left it at the house of his friend, N.B. Captain at House No. 277-A, Defense Colony. He ultimately proceeded to Parsi Dharamshala where he was staying. The police officer, to whom Malhotra had narrated the facts, took immediate necessary steps to alert his fellow policemen and started trekking down Nagarwala, a former intelligence officer. They ultimately succeeded in locating Nagarwala at Parsi Dharamshala, Anjuman-e-Parsi, near Delhi Gate and succeeded in recovering Rs.59,95,000.00 from Defense Colony. Nagarwala was arrested under Section 419/420 Indian Penal Code.

On may 27, 1971, Nagarwala made a confessional statement before Shri G. R. Aggarwal, on that very day the police presented a Chalan against Nagarwala under Sections 419/420, Indian Penal Code, in the Court of Shri K. P. Khanna Judicial Magistrate I Class. The learned Magistrate framed the charges to which accused pleaded guilty. Nagarwala was, therefore, sentenced to 4 years of imprisonment and fine of Rs. 1000. It is pertinent to note that it is the case of its own where the accused is convicted within 3 days of short span.

However, what began to raise suspicions at the time, and what has never been adequately explained, was the hasty and highly unorthodox way Captain Nagarwala’s trial was conducted. Another, issue that raises curiosity is that the cashier of the bank was approached for the transaction and not the branch manager. Three different judges presided over the case in just three days, at the end of which he was sentenced to four years imprisonment. The police failed to produce in court the tape they claimed to have of Nagarwala’s remarkable impersonation of Mrs. Gandhi, and contradictions between his story and that of the state cashier were never investigated. Moreover, after his arrest, Nagarwala changed his mind and from prison, he appealed for a retrial. He also tried unsuccessfully to gain an interview with a journalist from a Bombay weekly newspaper.2 A few months later Nagarwala was removed to hospital, allegedly complaining of chest pains, where he died in March 1972.

The very nature of the act gives rise to several suspicions and is reflective of the politico-economic situation of the country in the seventies. The clerk of the bank himself goes on to disclose the disbursement to the police after handing the money at the appointed place to Mr Nagarwala, who upon arrest confessed that he had mimicked Indira Gandhi’s voice. Death of Nagarwala under suspicious circumstances leading to an abrupt closure of the trial is reflective of the fraudulent political practices. Not a surprise, even the high-ranking civil servant who was appointed to investigate the case too had died in a traffic accident in Delhi when he was heading for a honeymoon. The whole issue continues to remain a secret to this day.

In the year 1971, the above case came to revision petition before the High Court of Delhi, the facts of which have been enumerated in detail above. The facts of the case has been summarily elucidated in the Criminal Appeal No. 402 of 1971 filed by Nagarwala. In which he had pleaded that trial was not fair and that Mr. V K Malhotra should have been tried along with him. The court did not find merit in Revision Petition and dismissed the same. The case continuous to be shrouded in the mystery.

In 1977, Mrs. Indira Gandhi lost election and the opposition party would not have missed the opportunity to showcase the faults of opposite party but even that could not throw light on the truth. A Commission of Inquiry was set up by the Janata Party under Justice P Jaganmohan Reddy. Surprisingly the copy of report is nowhere to be found on the internet. Many links lead to the said report but none of them give access to the same. The content of the report is not in public domain. Interestingly on the internet, there is an order of Central Information Commission (CIC) where it has directed the MHA to give an RTI applicant and the IPS officer who deposed before the Reddy Commission the details of evidence given by him during the probe.3

Since the report is unavailable, we hit a dead end in this case. For a vibrant democracy sunlight & transparency are two biggest disinfectants, it is important for a living democracy and legal system to know the truth. And, it is truth and transparency alone, which will enable us to know the correct history and learn lesson from it.