''The 65 Lakh Heist'' is first English version (translated by Sudarshan Purohit) of a

Surender Mohan Pathak Surender Mohan Pathak (born 19 February 1940 at Khemkaran, in Tarn Taran district near Amritsar, in the Majha region of Punjab) is an author of Hindi-language crime fiction with nearly 300 novels to his credit. His writing career, along with h ...

book. The

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

crime thriller ( :hi:पैंसठ लाख की डकैती, ''Painsatth Lakh ki Dacoity'') was first published in 1977. It was the fouth book in the Vimal series. The novel begun the trend of

anti-hero An antihero (sometimes spelled as anti-hero) or antiheroine is a main character in a story who may lack conventional heroic qualities and attributes, such as idealism, courage, and morality. Although antiheroes may sometimes perform actions ...

ism in Indian

pulp fiction ''Pulp Fiction'' is a 1994 American crime film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, who conceived it with Roger Avary.See, e.g., King (2002), pp. 185–7; ; Starring John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis, Tim Roth, Ving Rhame ...

and was very controversial.

Synopsis

Vimal is blackmailed into joining a conspiracy to break into the vault of Bharat Bank at

Amritsar Amritsar (), historically also known as Rāmdāspur and colloquially as ''Ambarsar'', is the second largest city in the Indian state of Punjab, after Ludhiana. It is a major cultural, transportation and economic centre, located in the Majha r ...

to loot 6.5 million

rupees Rupee is the common name for the currencies of India, Mauritius, Nepal, Pakistan, Seychelles, and Sri Lanka, and of former currencies of Afghanistan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, the United Arab Emirates (as the Gulf rupee), British East Africa, B ...

(65

lakh A lakh (; abbreviated L; sometimes written lac) is a unit in the Indian numbering system equal to one hundred thousand (100,000; scientific notation: 105). In the Indian 2,2,3 convention of digit grouping, it is written as 1,00,000. For ex ...

) inside it.Review in Spintingler Magazine
/ref> The conspiracy is the brainchild of Mayaram Bawa, a veteran vault-buster who is preparing to pull off the biggest heist of his career before he retires from his life of crime. For this purpose, he blackmails into submission an innocent-looking

chauffeur A chauffeur is a person employed to drive a passenger motor vehicle, especially a luxury vehicle such as a large sedan or limousine. Originally, such drivers were often personal employees of the vehicle owner, but this has changed to speciali ...

called Vimal (whose actual name is Sardar Surender Singh Sohal), a criminal wanted for

embezzlement Embezzlement is a crime that consists of withholding assets for the purpose of conversion of such assets, by one or more persons to whom the assets were entrusted, either to be held or to be used for specific purposes. Embezzlement is a type ...

Allahabad Allahabad (), officially known as Prayagraj, also known as Ilahabad, is a metropolis in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.The other five cities were: Agra, Kanpur (Cawnpore), Lucknow, Meerut, and Varanasi (Benares). It is the administrat ...

(he didn't do it), murder of Lady Shanta Gokuldas in

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

(he had to do it to prevent

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ag ...

and death of a girl), the robbery of gate money at Anna Stadium

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

(he was

blackmail Blackmail is an act of coercion using the threat of revealing or publicizing either substantially true or false information about a person or people unless certain demands are met. It is often damaging information, and it may be revealed to fa ...

ed into it). Bawa's deal is straight—say no and go to jail or say yes and get his share. Bawa, with the help of Vimal and his partners Laab Singh (alias Matar Paneer) and Karamchand, successfully break into the vault and take away 6.5 million until an unfortunate circumstance forces them to flee the crime scene in a hurry. Having got the money (mainly due to Vimal's brilliant efforts), Bawa shows his true colours, running away with the entire loot and ruthlessly killing the innocent Karamchand and the jovial Laabh Singh "Matar Paneer". Vimal narrowly escapes being killed due to his presence of mind, but needs to trace down Bawa. The trail brings him face to face with Harnam Singh Grewal, the top gun of

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

underworld The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underworld. ...

and a ruthless giant of a man. Grewal gets wind of the robbery and starts searching for Mayaram Bawa to snatch the loot from him. Bawa takes refuge with his childhood friend Khanna, who is completely unaware of his criminal antecedents. Fearing capture by the police or being traced by Vimal (he is still unaware of Grewal's sinister designs), he leaves in a hurry. Grewal follows the trail to Khanna's residence, brutally murdering the man of the house and brutally torturing Mrs. Khanna. In the meanwhile, Vimal manages to trace Mayaram Bawa to the residence of a young lady named Neelam in Chandigarh. He finally catches Bawa and punishes him by breaking his legs. Bawa's life is spared due to mercy of Neelam, who is now in love with Vimal (the two eventually get married). The novel ends with Vimal entering the Khanna residence, where a bullet that hits him in the spine leaves Grewal paralysed neck down. Unfortunately, Grewal does not know where the money went as the only person who knew it was Mr. Khanna, who died after being brutal thrashed by him. With nothing left to gain, Vimal leaves the scene, leaving Grewal to the mercy of the humiliated Mrs. Khanna.

References

External links

Chills and Thrills

DesiPopular Trash, Now in Angrezi
{{DEFAULTSORT:65 Lakh Heist Indian crime novels Novels by Surender Mohan Pathak 1977 novels Novels set in India 1977 Indian novels