The 65 Lakh Heist
The 65 Lakh Heist is first English version (translated by Sudarshan Purohit) of a Surender Mohan Pathak book. The Hindi 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-heroism in Indian pulp fiction and was very controversial. Synopsis Vimal is blackmailed into joining a conspiracy to break into the vault of Bharat Bank at Amritsar to loot 6.5 million rupees (65 lakh) inside it. 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 called Vimal (whose actual name is Sardar Surender Singh Sohal), a criminal wanted for embezzlement in Allahabad (he didn't do it), murder of Lady Shanta Gokuldas in Bombay (he had to do it to prevent rape and death of a girl), the robbery of gate money at Anna Stadium Madras (he was blackmailed into it). Bawa's deal is straight—say no and go to jail or say yes and get his share. Bawa, with