Ifs and Bhatts

Sometimes you go to a fancy restaurant. The aroma from the other tables drives you crazy as you wait patiently. The food never seems to arrive. By the time it does - you have lost your appetite.

Considering all the faux indignation, cries for justice, goofy editorials, human interest stories we had to endure for almost a year, the biggest story ever to break is getting a noticeably lukewarm response.

Since the previous post on the topic, the David Coleman Headley case has gotten bigger. The man now seems to be a veritable harbinger of doom - wherever he went, disaster struck. Let us quickly recap what the Bhatts had to say then and how things have changed.

In his initial interview with CNN-IBN, Mahesh Bhatt claimed that his son Rahul Bhatt took the initiative to go to the Police "the moment he got a whiff from the media". He had run into Headley "a few years ago" and when the media started "flashing", he presumably went to his parents seeking advise who then directed him to supercop Rakesh Maria. The senior Bhatt said that he did not know Headley personally and that he does not keep track of "every acquaintance" of his son. He also claimed that there was no reason to suspect a "white skinned American" who was "very decent in behavior".

In another version of the story it was Mahesh Bhatt's ex-wife (Rahul's mom) who recognized Headley on TV and asked his son to go to the cops.

Then the father daughter duo Mahesh and Pooja Bhatt (pictured above) appeared on the CNN-IBN Fake the Nation show and launched a massive tirade against - well, everyone. According to Pooja Bhatt, everyone is a lying, conniving, conspiring member of a totally broken system that is out to get their precious little snowflake.

Since then, more details have emerged and it does not look pretty for the Bhatts or the Bollywood community at large. Instead of being a chance acquaintance he met at a gym "a few years ago" (or variously at another place through a friend), Headley hung out with Rahul Bhatt as recently as March 2008. They must have known each other for a period of at least several months. Rahul took Headley out to meet his Bollywood pals, including his cousin. An assorted variety of Bolly stars and starlets then socialized with Headley at various levels of intimacy.

The police claim Rahul and Headley's other friends from the film world knew he was Asian. "He spoke in an American accent, but looked Asian," an officer said. "We've come to know some of the film stars knew Headley was Muslim and was regularly travelling to Pakistan. If that didn't arouse suspicion, what could?"

Rahul told investigators he found Headley's behaviour odd at times. "It is only now that Rahul has realised that Headley spoke on the phone in some code language." The code words used in Rahul's presence included "Mickey Mouse", "Allah", "Jannat", "North", "Maal" and "baraf" (Hindi for ice). Another word the officers haven't deciphered yet may have referred to the three top cities in the country. [India Today]

These facts are distinctly at variance with what Mahesh Bhatt had been selling to the media. No one forced him to come to the TV station - why then would he gloss over certain details?

Even the claim that Rahul took the initiative to go to the cops seems to be a bit untenable:

"The Bhatts claim we are hounding Rahul and that he came to us voluntarily. This is far from reality. It was only after we reached Headley's rented Breach Candy house that he came to us. We would have come to know of his friendship with Headley. The Bhatts possibly saw the trouble that lay ahead." [link]

There is still no reason to believe Rahul Bhatt had any inkling of Headley's devious plans. However, Mahesh Bhatt's claim that he was a hero who is being run aground by the media is ludicrous.

While the middle is intriguing enough, we know how the story ends and that's a bummer:

Police sources claim a lawyer-turned-politician has been calling up senior officers every day and asking them to not pressure Rahul.

A lawyer turned politician asking the cops not to pressurize Rahul? Who could that be? Well, there are two who fit the description - P. Chidambaram and Abhishek Manu Singhvi. But we know they are better than this, don't we?

NEXT: We will discuss shocking lapses in UPA's handling of the security apparatus and minority pandering that led to Pakistanis having a virtually free run in the country.