Days after Ottavio Quattrocchi was detained by Argentinian authorities, his son Massimo was in India and he left New Delhi last Thursday, a day before the CBI announced the news of the detention 17 days after the event.

Massimo Quattrochi, a private equity consultant on mergers and acquisitions, was here last week and checked into a New Delhi hotel on February 19. Sources confirmed to The Sunday Express that he checked out on February 21. And boarded a flight out of New Delhi on February 22. While details of his schedule here are not known, it’s learnt that he reached India days before February 19.

Sources said that one reason for the detention being under wraps for so long could be the visit of Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi from February 10 to 15. It was felt, officials said, that the issue should be dealt with “caution” and not allowed to cloud this visit.

After Prodi’s departure, the government and the Congress then got embroiled in debating the question of President’s rule in Uttar Pradesh.