What do you think a knife in the stomach can do for you? For Amarendra Nath Ghosh, it was a good enough ploy to avoid extradition from Germany to India.
Ghosh is not an ordinary person. He can live peacefully with a knife nestling in his stomach for almost 4 years.
He is a yoga practitioner for over 5 years and that he says gives him an immense inner strength to ward off any inconvenience because of the knife. The smile on his lips is a testimony to that.
The path to Ghosh’s fame is however on account of his another expertise. He is an alleged swindler having smoked out nearly Rs.27.69 crore (~$7 million) from the city branches of several nationalized banks in 1994 and 1995.
He must have left a somewhat hot trail in his wake when he fled the city to land in Germany, for he was located there soon enough. And then his problems started.
Declared a proclaimed offender by the Alipore Court and an Interpol red corner notice issued against him as a result, Ghosh was picked up in Munich in December 2002.
Till then it was presumably okay with him, but when the German authorities initiated his extradition, he saw everything red. The best course Ghosh decided was to swallow a 10cm knife and then refuse to be operated upon.
Clever, no doubt. Ghosh remained a nonplussed Germany’s ‘state’ guest for as long as 5 years before his luck ran out. [Image source left]
Bringing him back has been a costly affair for the Indian government, because as German authorities insisted, a special aircraft, an ‘air ambulance’, was arranged for him with 3 CBI officers, 2 surgeons and an anesthetist in attendance armed with medicines and surgical equipments.
Ghosh says he is very happy to be back in Kolkata, though his request for surgical removal of knife in a private hospital at his ‘own’ expense has been turned down by the court.
Having already served about 5 years in German prison, it remains to be seen how long he serves here before coming out of the prison to live a wealthy life.
Amarendra Nath Ghosh is just 46. A colorful life awaits him after the jail term is over.
Who knows his deeds can inspire a blockbuster movie, he earning fabulous royalty in return! Lesser mortals of Ghosh’s ilk may even heave a sigh of jealousy, “Blessed are those who have brains between the eyes!”
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