The Rediff Special / N K Singh

Larry Kolb threatened Shiv Kumar, asking 'how do you like Africa?'

N K Singh is the CBI officer who arrested Indira Gandhi on October 3, 1977. The first time a former Indian prime minister has gone to prison. Forced to return to his home cadre in Orissa after she returned to power, this courageous and diligent Indian Police Service officer was brought back to the CBI by V P Singh's government.

One of the first cases he was assigned was the St Kitts forgeries. Unfortunately, his meticulous investigation into the case earned the wrath of the next prime minister, Chandra Shekhar, who transferred him out of the agency.

In the fifth of six extracts from his fascinating biography, The Plain Truth, N K Singh discloses how Adnan Khashoggi's son-in-law Larry Kolb intimidated Indian diplomats in the St Kitts case.

Apart of the fax Larry Kolb sent S C Gupta is reproduced below:

'I am most disappointed that you did not discuss this matter with me before your meeting with the prime minister of St Kitts. Had you done so, I would have been able to inform you of all of the groundwork which had been done for your meeting, to advise you of the informal arrangements which had been made with the PM of St Kitts and to advise you of the specific objectives of your meeting.

'Had you spoken with me in advance of your meeting, you would have known that your meeting had only two goals: (a) to officially request that the government of St Kitts and Nevis co-operate with the Indian investigation of V P Singh and Ajeya Singh's alleged St Kitts bank account; and (b) to request, and receive, from the PM a letter confirming that the government of St Kitts and Nevis had received your request and would investigate the matter.

'You this morning told me that during your meeting yesterday, the PM confirmed orally that his government would also investigate this matter. When I had asked you why you had not requested that the PM provide you written confirmation of this, you said that you had "believed that his verbal assurance was sufficient."

'It is most unfortunate that it is only now that I have the opportunity to inform you that you were wrong to believe that such verbal assurance was not sufficient, and that the main purpose of your meeting was to obtain a written confirmation of this verbal assurance.

'The prime minister of St Kitts is leaving tomorrow on an extended visit to Asia. As such it is very important that you immediately take steps to ensure that you receive, today or tomorrow, a letter from the government of St Kitts confirming that it will investigate this matter.'

The fact that Prakash Shah spoke to S C Gupta from New Delhi and then finally to Shiv Kumar and conveyed the instructions of the foreign secretary that he should travel to St Kitts to collect a letter from the PM of the island and telex the same to the foreign secretary in the next 24 hours clearly showed that they were acting in conjunction with Chandra Swami, Mamaji and Larry Kolb and werse on the same wavelength.

The urgency shown to get the communication by October 1989 was also significant. S C Gupta did travel to St Kitts on October 11, 1989, met the prime minister and returned with an oral assurance. On instructions from his high commissioner who was then camping at Barbados, he informed the foreign secretary about it. The latter emphasised that the communication from the prime minister of St Kitts must be faxed in the next few days.

When on October 12, Larry Kolb talked to Shiv Kumar personally, he threatened him, asking 'how do you like Africa?' It was alleged by Shiv Kumar that, according to his information, Larry Kolb was close to Captain Satish Sharma and Rajiv Gandhi.

During the stage-managed enquiries in the US, Nanday had collected certain documents from McLean and others and recorded their statements in New York. They wanted these documents to be authenticated at the consulate of India in New York. P V Narasimha Rao, then minister for external affairs, happened to be staying during that very period at the United Nation Plaza Hotel, New York, in connection with the UN assembly session.

Nanday had reached New York from Miami on October 3, 1989 and instead of staying in New York, stayed at Stamford, Motel Inn, 120-E, Main Street, Stamford, Connecticut, which was arranged by one Dev Ketu, a close follower of Chandra Swami. Dev Ketu was also present at Miami airport to receive Nanday when the later arrived from Delhi.

As usual, Chandra Swami and Mamaji were staying at the Olympic Towers of Khashoggi at Manhattan. R K Rai, counsellor in New York, was called by P V Narasimha Rao to his hotel suite on October 4, 1989 and was asked to attest some documents which would be brought to the consulate by Nanday.

AT Rai's suggestion, the time fixed for this purpose was 4 pm. Prakash Shah was present during the conversation in the hotel suite with Narasimha Rao. Rai was also allegedly advised by Rao not to share this information with Dr Karan Singh who was then our ambassador there.

In this connection, an interview given by Dr Karan Singh to Sunday magazine makes interesting reading.

Tomorrow: the denouement

Excerpted from The Plain Truth, Memoirs Of A CBI Officer, by N K Singh, Konarak, 1996, Rs 395, with the publisher's permission. Readers may direct inquiries about the book to Mr K P R Nair, Konarak Publishers, A-149, Main Vikas Marg, Delhi 11 00 92.