When on the run, it pays to have contacts. A judicial magistrate, two local advocates, the Kartarpur station house officer and at least 10 others — suspended JMIC S.S. Bhardwaj was apparently in touch with all of them during his month-long flight from CBI custody. None bothered to inform the CBI or police about Bhardwaj’s whereabouts. Investigations now reveal Bhardwaj was in contact with these persons through an Airtel mobile pre-paid card (98161-26331), which he used from May 16 to May 20. He bought the SIM card from Sood Communications in Parwanoo. It was activated on May 16 at 7:09 pm. Over 50 calls were made and received by Bhardwaj on the number. He had called Aaj Tak on May 20 for an interview from the same number. Now, memory fails them • Advocate Salinder Sharma: Bhardwaj was my batchmate at PU. He might have called me, but I don’t remember the conversation. • Advocate Rajesh Joshi’s father: Rajesh is in Bangalore till June 27. The CBI did question him, but only he can give you the details. • Kartarpur SHO Rajinder Singh is being questioned by CBI. • JMIC Pushpinder Singh was shifted from Chandigarh to Amritsar three days ago and could not be traced for comments. • Arun Kumar Oswal, property dealer: I know Bhardwaj as he’s from my native village. But I don’t remember getting any calls from him. • Jatinder Sharma, family friend, could not be contacted. • The contact numbers of Sher Singh, Chander, Lakhwinder Singh, Dinesh and Yog Raj do not respond. • Durlabjit Singh, who runs a PCO in Kaurijiwala, pleads ignorance. The man who spilled the beans is Jatinder Sharma, Bhardwaj’s close friend and resident of Sector 44-C. Sharma reportedly told the CBI he had called Bhardwaj on the number four times from three different booths in Sector 44. The record of calls procured by The Indian Express from Airtel was startling. The numbers on the list: JMIC Puspinder Singh’s house in Sector 22; Kartarpur Police Station from where CBI’s complainant Gurwinder Samra hails; advocates Rajesh Joshi and Salinder Sharma. Also on the list is BSNL number 9417069576. Maximum calls — 18 in all — extending over 50 minutes, were made to and received by Bhardwaj from this mystery number. • May 16: Within three minutes of activation, Bhardwaj called advocate Salinder Sharma. The call lasted almost four minutes. The next call came within 15 minutes from the mystery number. Then, around 8:45 pm, Bhardwaj called the Kartarpur Police Station. This was followed by two calls to Sher Singh in Jalandhar. Bhardwaj then made three more calls to Kartarpur Police Station. • May 17: The day began with a call from the mystery number at 6:35 am. He then called JMIC Pushpinder Singh’s house thrice. He also called Arun Kumar Oswal’s house. Two calls from Jatinder Sharma followed. Then came four calls from advocate Rajesh Sharma. • May 18: No calls. • May 19: Three calls, first one at 6 am from the mystery number. Bhardwaj made three calls to Lakhwinder Singh, a resident of Sangrur. He also called advocate Salinder Sharma thrice — at 10:42 am, 6:45 pm and 7:33 pm. Then at 9:48 pm, Bhardwaj got a call from Chander in Patiala. His relation with Lakhwinder Singh and Chander remains a mystery. • May 20: Bhardwaj called Chander for four minutes. He then got a call from Jatinder at 10:36 am, after which he contacted Aaj Tak. Around 6 pm, he again got a call from Jatinder. The last call was made to Chander at 10:20 pm.
