Toon show reality: Jerry still manages to give Tom the slip

Till the Red Corner Notice was alive, "Tom" (CBI) had some chance of catching "Jerry" in Ottavio Quattrocchi who outsmarted CBI several times.       

But after the CBI took off Quattrocchi from the wanted list, the last chance to catch "Jerry", who has outsmarted the "Tom" for ever, appears to have gone.       

A parallel between the Rs 64 crore Bofors scam and the CBI's chase of Qauttrocchi to the famous characters in the popular toon show was in fact drawn by the premier investigating agency's Director Ashwani Kumar.      

"I like Tom and Jerry cartoon show and police is like the cat while the criminals are like mice. So Tom never leaves Jerry," Kumar had said in response to a question whether the agency will give up its pursuit of Quattrocchi.       

Kumar, who took over the reins of CBI in August last year, had also said "I am in the game of Tom and Jerry and I have to do my job" when asked whether a substantial amount of taxpayers money had been spent on the case and if the time had come to close it.      

But today, after the CBI had taken off the 71-year-old Quattrocchi off from the Interpol's Red Corner, the CBI Director himself played the cat and house game giving a slip to journalists.       

The reporters, who had been camping at the headquarters gate for the whole day yesterday, were none too impressed when the CBI Director used the back entrance of adjacent ITBP headquarters to make a hasty exit.       

This morning, the CBI Director instead of coming to the headquarters went to his North Block office using the side entrance of Intelligence Bureau.