Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, emerges in the narrative not merely as a foreign city but as a vital artery in the body of the Mumbai underworld. It is a place where the illicit flows of arms and fake currency, originating in Pakistan, are channeled into India, and where the ambitions of gangsters and the desperate plans of those who would challenge them converge. The city's significance is defined by its role as a transit point and a staging ground, a location where the global reach of figures like Dawood Ibrahim is made tangible and where the risks of operating outside the established order become brutally clear.

A Hub for Transnational Crime

The book establishes Kathmandu as a key junction in the smuggling routes that sustain the Mumbai underworld. A tip-off reveals that most arms and fake currency destined for India come from Pakistan but are routed through the Kathmandu border, a fact that underscores the city's strategic importance. This intelligence is provided by a well-connected contact, Ram Singh Bahadur, who knows where and when Dawood's consignments will arrive. The plan that emerges is to travel to Nepal and intercept these shipments, with the explicit goal of causing immense financial losses to Dawood and signaling that a new force is entering the fray. The city is thus presented as a permeable frontier, a place where the reach of the Indian state is weaker and where the logistics of the underworld's trade are conducted with relative impunity.

The Birganj Conspiracy

The plan to strike at Dawood's operations centers on Kathmandu as a destination and a base for intelligence gathering. The route chosen to intercept the consignment is through the hilly regions of Birganj, where the Border Security Forces are less concentrated. The journey itself is arduous, requiring travel to Raxaul, a small town in Bihar that serves as a hub for cross-border smuggling of arms, electronic goods, drugs, and fake currency, before taking a bus to Birganj. The plan is to first travel to Kathmandu via Birganj to gather intelligence, then return to Birganj to intercept the shipment. Upon reaching Kathmandu, the narrator introduces Sapna to his friends, Raamu and Chaamu Singh, who supply him with weapons. It is here that the intelligence is confirmed: Kim Bahadur Thapa, Dawood's trusted lieutenant operating from Mumbai's Matunga area, is set to send a consignment to Raxaul via Birganj, with a man at the border ready to collect it within three days. The conspirators decide to get down a few kilometres before Birganj and walk the rest of the way along a kachcha road through the mountainous terrain, planning to hide near the hillocks and seize the consignment as it is transported by mules or donkeys. The city of Kathmandu is thus the nerve center where the plot is hatched and the intelligence is verified, a place where the underworld's plans are made concrete.

A Place of Personal Transformation

Beyond its strategic importance, Kathmandu is also the backdrop for a profound personal shift in the narrator's relationship with Sapna. The journey to the city is tiring, but the narrator reflects that every second spent with her was worth its weight in gold. He admits that before this, he had never really cared for any woman, but with Sapna it was different; his feelings went beyond lust. During the journey, Sapna opens her heart to him for the first time, speaking about her life after the death of her husband Mehmood, her plans to remarry, and her desire to have children. She is no longer just a grieving widow driven by a thirst for revenge; the narrator begins to see that there is more to her. Kathmandu, in this context, becomes a liminal space where the past can be set aside and new possibilities, both personal and criminal, can be imagined. The city's foreignness allows for a temporary escape from the constraints of Mumbai, fostering a bond that will have tragic consequences.

The Fatal Consequences of Defiance

The promise of Kathmandu is ultimately betrayed by the violence it enables. The plot to intercept Dawood's consignment, hatched in the city, leads directly to Sapna's horrific murder. The attack occurs in Mumbai, but its origins lie in the challenge posed from Kathmandu. The four men who break into Sapna's home in Hujjrah Mohalla are identified as Dawood and Shakeel's men, and their brutality is a direct response to the audacity of the plan. The murder is designed to be an example, a message to anyone who dares to think of taking on Dawood. The city that once represented a chance for a new beginning becomes the catalyst for a savage end, highlighting the unforgiving nature of the underworld and the deadly reach of its leaders. The hope and intimacy that Kathmandu fostered are violently extinguished, leaving only the stark reality of the consequences of defiance.