Guérilla tactics

 The year was 1663. Shahiste Khan, the maternal uncle of Aurangjeb, had settled himself in Lal Mahal, Pune, and he was cruelly ill-treating, looting, troubling, attacking the people, the common man. Keeping the Khan's huge army unaware of his plans, Shivaji Maharaj entered the Lal Mahal in the dark of the night, and before either the Khan or his  soldiers could realise what was happening, the band of hardly three hundred fifty soldiers created havoc, while four fingers of the confused Khan got cut while trying to run away.

The beauty of the real plan by the Maratha army was yet to unravel. A herd of bullocks was sent in the direction of Katraj. Atop their horns were tied lighted lamps. Thus the impression was created that the Maratha army was travelling towards Rajgad near Satara. The moghul army chased that miasma, while the bravehearts comfortably reached Simhgad.

A classic case it is of guérilla warfare. The Maharashtra police seem to have looked it up before beginning the search and combing operation to nab the culprit in the Saif case. 

They released a rather suspicious visual of a guy climbing with a heavy backpack, and getting down the staircase (which could be anywhere actually) with a very light one. The man's mug was very much visible. There were no blood stains, no scuffle marks, no injuries. Later on, this suspect was seen sauntering around Mumbai.

Next came a story about a guy whose train journey was intercepted as his looks appeared to match the suspect. The huge contin(g)ent of media of all sorts was thus sent on a wild goose chase twice. The usual rant about the inefficacy of the police while the Khans, the Muslim superstars, are targeted reached a resounding crescendo with all sorts of wild guesses, and statements even by certain political leaders!

All along, quietly but surely, the Mumbai police tracked the real culprit in a very intelligent way. The combing operation was tough. The culprit, however, could be caught despite his hiding in a hay stack in a dense jungle. The mobile location and the local informers were a great help.

I suppose such guérilla techniques are a must, given the media frenzy. Remember how during the 26/11 attack, the over enthusiastic electronic media unwittingly helped the "aka" (master minds) guide the foot soldiers like Ajmal Kasab!

Sure in the entire narrative, there are yet very many glaring loop holes. Now that the culprit is found, his motives, others' lies and evasions, the master minds involved, all these can be unearthed, while the media is busy scouting the area where the culprit was found!

Pratima@A worrisome fact it is if the man is a Bangla Deshi. Fearsome is the reality that he could manage an Aadhar card, a pan card, a job, and could cross the border at his own sweet will. How many such people would be around? True terror it is, given the present world realities!