DNA Edit: The birds that flow the Indian coop

Going to London is the new almost-having-a-heart-attack when they come to arrest you. Where once netas who were under the scanner got themselves admitted to expensive hospital suites to pre-empt arrest, today the average fleeing Indian politician or industrialist buys himself an open one-way ticket to London or Dubai. Indian airports, more than our jails perhaps, have VVIP lobbies full of the almost-arrested. An understandably exasperated Justice AK Pathak of the Delhi High Court told under-the-scanner meat exporter Moin Qureshi "not to behave like Vijay Mallya" and directed him to return to India from Dubai by mid-November to be questioned by the Enforcement Directorate in an ongoing money laundering case. The Court refused to restrain the agency from taking any coercive steps. Qureshi's counsel RK Handoo has claimed that Qureshi has been subject to extreme humiliation as an absconder and is willing to co-operate provided he is not arrested while doing so. Which is wonderful, because that is a quality he shares with Vijay Mallya, who while missing in action from the scene of the trial, also does not want to be seen as an absconder.

The question arises, how and why did Qureshi, who had a Lookout Circular (LC) issued against him by the ED, manage to flee the country at all? When Qureshi was stopped at the Indira Gandhi International Airport on October 15, he gave the authorities the slip by showing them a trial court order on an income tax issue which had given him bail. Right there, the shining hallmark of a man who does not mean to hoodwink the long arm of the law. That they allow themselves to be made fools of repeatedly, is their fault alone.

There is a massive slip between cup and lip between policing agency and the border patrolling one. On March 2 this year Vijay Mallya, who also had no intention to flee the country as he later announced from the safe confines of London, fled the country with $40mn in his pocket even as various trials were underway against him in debt tribunals across the country. Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi confirmed the news of the flight when the Supreme Court attempted to issue a summons to Mallya. At that time too, sparks had flown in Parliament with the Congress alleging that his escape had been aided. The BJP claimed his debts had been endorsed by the UPA. And it was concluded that nobody had shielded him and yet he managed to make his way through airport security that doesn't allow ordinary citizens 50ml extra shampoo.

Contrast the escapades of these gentlemen with the obstacles even superstar Shah Rukh Khan faces when he seeks entry into the US. TSA has issues with people who even look like or sound like they could have criminal intent, without actually having it. Where can we get more of that?