Book Review | The 1971 Rs 60L SBI heist: Did the bank keep Indira’s unaccounted-for money?
Hyderabad: More than a half a century later, the Nagarwala case – the scam that shook the nation – remains as enigmatic as ever and not only because of the then-mind-boggling sum of Rs 60 lakh that was withdrawn from a public sector bank on a mere verbal command over telephone, purportedly from the highest echelons of the government at the Centre. In 1971, Rs 60 lakh was no joke – the amount would have been Rs 170.62 crore in 2024 after adjusting it to inflation.
It was on May 24, 1971, that V.P. Malhotra, chief cashier of State Bank of India, Parliament Street branch, received a purported call from then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, and P.N. Haksar, secretary to PM, to deliver `60 lakh for a secret mission in East Pakistan.
“I am the PM of India Indira Gandhi speaking. As my secretary has just now informed you `60 lakh is urgently required in Bangladesh for an important secret work. Get it ready quickly. I am sending my courier. At the place indicated by Haksar, had over the money to him,” he was told.
“How will I be able to identify the person,” Malhotra asked.
“The person will talk to you in code words and will say, “I am Bangladesh ka babu,” “You reply, “I am Bar-at-law.” By this you will be assured that he is my courier. Thereafter, you proceed as he says. After delivering the money, come straight to my house and you will get a receipt.” Then the line went dead.
He duly paid the money.
When the cashier approached the PMO for a receipt, he was told that neither Haksar nor the PM had given any such instructions or sent anyone. Malhotra had been duped.
Within a few hours, Delhi police managed to recover most of the cash and arrest the man responsible for the heist, a former Army officer, captain Rustom Sohrab Nagarwala (retired).
The authors in the chapter ‘The political landscape 1966-1971’ say that the scam broke at a time when a war with Pakistan appeared imminent. “In the economic sphere, Indira Gandhi had already antagonised powerful business groups with her move to nationalise fourteen leading banks.
“Did the Nagarwala episode embarrass her? “Certainly not, since I had nothing to do with it. I did not know any of the persons concerned,” Indira Gandhi told the Pingle Jaganmohan Reddy Commission which was set up by the Janata government to probe the Nagarwala case.
The book revisits the ‘rash of theories’ to quote the authors: Whose voice was it? Did the SBI keep Indira Gandhi’s unaccounted-for money? Was the money meant for her younger son Sanjay Gandhi for his dream Maruti project? Was it meant for Bangladeshi freedom fighters but could not be sent because of a last-minute goof-up? Or Nagarwala was forced to make the confession to save Indira Gandhi? Was Nagarwala’s death natural? Was Nagarwala packed off to Italy, with the story of his death due to myocardial infarction being a red herring? Was it a judicial botch-up? Was the key investigator Kashyap’s death an accident?
The authors, through the 23 chapters, make a conscious-effort to be politically neutral. The book is based on extensive research, police records, press reports, interviews, a 820-page report of the Justice Jaganmohan Reddy Commission, and files from the National Archives.
Dividing the narrative into different chapters, Patra and Kidwai try to present the facts as they occurred and let the reader decide.
In Justice Reddy’s view, there wasn’t enough evidence to conclude that the money taken out of the bank belonged to the then prime minister. The commission was also of the view that Nagarwala could not mimic anyone.
The case was officially closed on January 15, 1981.
Book: The Nagarwala scandal – The scam shook that shook the nation
Authors: Prakash Patra and Rasheed Kidwai
Publisher: Harper Collins
Pages: 264
Price: Rs 399
