Operation Hoodwink

Some of the best houses in Calcutta are to be found in the Lake
Gardens area. A lot of rich people live here including actors and
top-notch cricketers. Not all houses are good-looking though. Close to
the local railway station there is a two-storey building which looks
haunted. It belongs to a doctor who stays in another city. Few people
are willing to stay in the house though the rent is ridiculously low.
Running water is only available here for two hours in the morning and
there is no electricity on the ground floor. In fact a major portion of
the ground floor is occupied by a garage. This garage is said to be
visited by ghosts every full moon. The people who have stayed in the
house have stated that it is unfit for being used by a family. People
who cannot afford a more decent house or are waiting for a better place
to become available usually live here but only briefly. This haunted
house has a new tenant. He moved in after sunset on a Sunday and thus
few people were able to find out anything about him. He rarely visited
the market and he appeared to be a bachelor. He was a tall man, with a
broken voice and he had a deep scar on his nose. A few incorrigible
types tried to get friendly with him. But when he looked at them with
bloodshot eyes and ran his hand threateningly over his cheeks the
friendly people knew that they were chatting up the wrong person. After
a while people got used to the new tenant of the haunted house. And it
was then that the robberies started.
All over Calcutta there are small jewellery shops that sell silver and
gold ornaments. They are usually part of large farm produce markets and
deal in small, cheap pieces. These shops usually have just one person
who does everything-selling, measuring, purity-test. Though the shops
appear small they do good business owing to their location. In fact the
shops do not expand business in the fear of losing loyal customers who
will not visit the massive, ornate showrooms. A few days after the
haunted house became occupied the small jewellery shops were robbed-one
by one. The modus operandi was always the same. A single person
carrying a pipe-gun, with face concealed by a dark mask and dressed in
black would enter the shop. The person at the counter would be asked to
hand over the valuables. After everything was given to the robber he
would climb into a black car and escape to an unknown destination. Most
of the robberies took place in the afternoon when it was quite hot and
few people were out on the streets. The last of the robberies took
place in the Ash Heights area which is adjacent to Lake Gardens. As the
robber was about to leave with the loot his mask tore and his scarred
nose became visible. The owner of the shop knew that scar. It belonged
to the new occupant of the haunted house in Lake Gardens. The matter
was reported to the police. But the suspected man had a foolproof
alibi. He was visiting the zoo at the time of the robbery. Visitors as
well as employees had seen him. They had also seen his car and it was a
different model from that used by the robber. The suspect could hardly
be detained for visiting the zoo, surely.
P C Sen Jewellers sells diamonds. Situated in the central business area
of Esplanade it is visited by the rich and famous all the time. There
are a total of twenty security personnel all around the shop both men
and women. Half the people are in plainclothes and look like customers.
You have to take an appointment to visit the shop and must promise to
buy jewellery worth 5000 pounds at the very outset. Otherwise you are
not given an appointment at all. The very best diamonds from all over
the world are available in this showroom. Its security system is
considered exemplary. Never has a person been able to enter the place
and leave with even a piece of paper. There is a new visitor today
morning. He claims to represent a very rich man from Bardwan. The
daughter of this rich man is getting married. The father has decided to
present the daughter with five diamond necklaces. He shall buy all five
necklaces from P C Sens' only if their designs are all unique. His
representative is shown ten necklaces. Two of the shop's employees are
keeping an eye on him. The customer turns around. The eyes of the
security-men follow him. The customer looks towards the necklaces
again. Lo and behold, the necklaces are all gone! The ornaments are
worth a few million pounds. Every person in the shop is searched. Not
one necklace is found. The owners of PC Sen Jewellers are shattered.
The loss is so great that it can close down the business. As the
necklace-buying customer is about to leave the men at the gate stop
him. They say he had just left the shop after buying ten necklaces, in
a blue car. There must be some mistake the man says. I have a black car
and I have bought nothing. The necklace counter is phoned and the man's
statement confirmed. HE is allowed to go.
HE is Mike. And he is Mark. Yes, there are two of them and they are
identical twins. They look, move and talk absolutely the same. Even
their mother would find it difficult to distinguish one from the other.
These two people live in the haunted house in Lake Gardens. They have
used their similarity to cheat, swindle and hoodwink people all their
life. Now, they are preparing for the biggest heist of their lives. The
idea is this. There is a huge shopping mall G3 in the middle of the
Salt Lake area of Calcutta. There are few customers at G3 in the
afternoon. The two of them would visit G3 the next afternoon and
plunder it to their heart's content.
It is one thirty pm in Salt Lake. Mike and Mark get down from their
respective cars which they park at a safe distance from G3.They are
dressed in simple, sober clothes. They enter G3 like innocent people.
They are pretending to collect funds for building a children's park. As
a token of gratitude from the children's side every person is being
offered a toffee. The unsuspecting employees of G3 are pleased to help
the children. They find nothing wrong in eating toffees offered by
strangers that too within their own establishment. What they do not
know is that the toffees are all laced with a sleep-inducing drug. One
by one all the employees of G3 fall asleep. Mike and Mark get working.
After filling their cars with clothes, toys, food, soft luggage and
many other things they start their journey home. What they do not know
is that they are being followed. On their trail is the police. As
suspected the brothers drive all around the jungles outside town till
sunset and then head for Lake Gardens. Just as the two cars stop before
the haunted house Inspector Simon fires a shot in the air. Mike and
Mark who were being suspected of the many crimes they had committed
together are surrounded by police. Not knowing what to do the brothers
start running. They cannot go very far and are overpowered. It's the
end of Operation Hoodwink, the name given to the efforts to nab Mike
and Mark.