Central Bureau of Investigation

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) enters the narrative of Mafia Queens of Mumbai not as a faceless institution but as the decisive federal force that receives two of the most wanted fugitives in Indian crime history from Portuguese authorities. Its appearance marks the climax of a long international pursuit, transforming the abstract machinery of law enforcement into a concrete, almost cinematic scene of handover and custody. The CBI's role here is pivotal: it is the agency that formally takes charge of Abu Salem and Monica Bedi, processes their extradition, and sets in motion the legal proceedings that would separate them forever.

The Lisbon Handover

The CBI's most vivid moment comes at Lisbon airport, where a police convoy with blaring sirens cuts across the runway, escorted by gun-toting guards, giving the impression of a mobile fortress. Deputy Superintendent of Police Devendra Pardesi of the CBI's Special Task Force watches as the Portuguese Policia Judicia escort a thirty-six-year-old man in a black T-shirt and track pants, who walks with a stooping gait and seems to smile nervously. Pardesi, who has handled tough cases and tougher criminals, finds the scene unreal: the man being handed over simply does not fit the bill of one of Mumbai's most dreaded gangsters, someone who had masterminded some of the most gruesome murders in the annals of Mumbai crime history. The moment crystallizes the gap between the myth of the underworld and the reality of a nervous, ordinary-looking man in custody.

Taking Custody of Monica Bedi

The second car's occupant provides an even more striking contrast. As in the movies, a policeman holds the door open and a woman's legs emerge, toes first and then heels, as she climbs gracefully onto the tarmac. Monica Bedi, tall and slim with delicate features strained by the moment, clutches a Bible like a lifesaver. Pardesi, observing her figure-hugging T-shirt and jeans, thinks she fits the bill of a mobster's moll perfectly and wonders how this naive-looking woman could have gotten involved in such a mess. His boss, Deputy Inspector General of Police Omprakash Chhatwal, signs the official documents and nods at Pardesi, who moves cautiously towards Abu Salem. The exchange that follows is terse and revealing: Pardesi asks, 'So, you are Salem?' and Salem's voice betrays fear as he asks, 'Are you from the Crime Branch?' The CBI's authority is established in this moment of direct confrontation with the man who had long evaded Indian justice.

Interrogation and Separation

After a half-hour's grilling, the Intelligence Bureau hands Salem over to the CBI, the first of several sessions the IB would have with him. Once in CBI custody, Salem repeatedly pleads with officials to allow him to meet Monica privately one last time. Women officials from the Hyderabad CBI arrive, and Pardesi decides to grant Salem his final request but denies him a private tete-a-tete. The meeting is a study in emotional asymmetry: while Salem tries to have a word with her, Monica shows no interest and says little except goodbye. In that moment, Salem knows she is done with him for good. The CBI's procedural decision to deny a private meeting becomes the stage for the final dissolution of their relationship, a bureaucratic choice with profound personal consequences.

Legal Processing and Aftermath

Monica is flown to Hyderabad on an Indian Airlines flight and spends the night at the CBI office in the Koti area of Hyderabad. The following day she is taken to court, where she is remanded to judicial custody for seeking a passport under a fictitious name from the Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh. The CBI's role thus extends beyond the dramatic handover into the mundane machinery of legal processing, moving the fugitives from international arrest to domestic judicial custody. This sequence of events—the handover, the interrogation, the separation, and the remand—establishes the CBI as the institutional endpoint of a transnational criminal saga, the agency that converts the chaos of the underworld into the order of legal procedure. Its significance in the book lies in demonstrating how the state's investigative apparatus ultimately reasserts control over figures who had seemed untouchable, operating across borders with impunity until the CBI's coordinated action with Portuguese authorities brought them to ground.