The First Trillionaire

Musa calls for Jamal's Help

As soon as the news of Shail's going missing spread, the media took great interest in the kidnapping because of Olivia making a confession to the world about her relation with Shail. It did not help the task undertaken by Musa Khan. Bachchu Singh had only asked him to hide the girl for some time until the matter cooled off, but that was because Bachchu Singh was facing close scrutiny of the Bihar police. But as the girl was being shifted from Bihar to Gujarat, at first by a truck carrying stones and chips, the media came out with those surprising statements by a business tycoon. Musa Khan, who was in India at the time, took a while to digest the fact that the shenanigan was all over the news. He mulled it over, a plan slowly forming in his mind. If the news is true then I have the granddaughter of one of the richest persons in the world, and this chance is something I cannot let go off easily. I'll hide her first, and when things clear out a bit, I'll shift her overseas until it becomes quiet, if necessary; then for few months so that I can make a nice deal with the old lady. It will be the heist of a lifetime.

And so, he directed his men to bring the kidnapped girl very carefully to evade the authorities. "After a few kilometers and at each state, change the vehicles and the type of goods in them so that when you reach Gujarat, the girl will be well hidden in a bundle of fishing nets," he instructed. It was not so difficult for him to arrange the transport, after all his close associate Jamal Khan had his businesses stretching across India from North to South and East to West. It took only a call to him to have Shail transported.

Jamal Khan migrated to India as one of the many refugees in the year 1971, at the time of the creation of Bangladesh when he was twelve years old. The following years saw him drift in and out of Kolkata, Delhi and Rajasthan before finding a foothold at Veraval way back in 1978. At that time, Veraval had abeautiful beach and very scant population. And about seven kilometers from his place of business was the world famous Somnath temple, which had been plundered by Mohammed Ghaznavi in the eleventh century AD.

Veraval was more than lucky for the clever Jamal who fought to survive in his adopted country. In his years here, he had known the miseries of hunger and homelessness, which drove him to find ways to build his life of comfort and status. In Veraval, he found out that he had inherited his father's sharp business acumen and the ability to manage people skillfully. He earned respect from people at Veraval. By his twentieth birthday, he was held in high esteem among the two communities of Rabaris and Kharwas, and those who took his business to greater heights in and out of India.

The milkman community of Rabaris could find their way through the marsh lands of the Rann of Kutch, with their acute sense of direction, which helped them find their way through the stretch of marsh lands which had no land marks. Jamal could depend on them to do his bidding for his business interests in Pakistan. They were adept in finding an entry point into Pakistan while evading the security of both the countries. And they helped Jamal to control a major part of the exports and imports happening in the country; the more profitable and illegal side of the business was his area of interest.

Unlike the Rabaris, the Kharwas were valiant seafarers who loved adventure and they were at home in the sea. It was in their blood as for many generations they had been going far out into the sea fishing. They had to pay the price for their love of sea however, when many of their fishermen brethren entered forbidden waters, the invisible nautical line that divided the sea into parts of India and Pakistan. Setting foot into the disputed waters had cost life and freedom of their unfortunate brothers. They were taken as prisoners for their audacity to cross into Pakistani territorial waters. However, the lure of the open sea always washed away any visible traces of danger, which only worked well for Jamal. Over time, he came to depend on this sea-loving community heavily for the seedier aspects of his seaways business interests.