DETECTIVE DUTTA: The Kolkata Public School Murder

THE KOLKATA PUBLIC SCHOOL MURDER

                                                                                      (1)

"Do you think Liverpool can maintain their lead?" asked the football-loving Raghav Dutta as I entered the Dutta-house. "I am sure City is going to defend the title."

"Can't say anything,"said I. "Anything can happen. After all it's football!"

"Hmm,"he mused for a moment and then continued. "Who had thought that City will suffer a defeat from Newcastle?"

"Exactly!But even I feel that City is going to do it."

"I hope so," said he and changed the topic as quickly as he had started it. "Dad is out of station and there is not even a single strange happening. It's turning out to be a very boring stretch of holidays."

Raghav always had a particular interest in strange happenings in the bustling city of Kolkata. He was only 15 and at this age itself he had solved one of the most baffling cases of the city: the case of the murdered newborn girl. He was not a very healthy boy but his mental faculty was one of a kind. His father, Mr. Dutta who was a police detective himself, often said that Raghav will exceed his detecting abilities one day and I couldn't agree more.

I,Sumukh Sarkar, was his best friend and, as the last case showed, his assistant. We attended the Kolkata Public School. We just finished our 10th standard board exams, so I was having a pretty good time during the term-break holidays. But Raghav was not very happy as he said that the long absence of some mystery was harming his abilities.

We,however, did not have to wait for a very long time to encounter one.It was a nice April morning. I knocked at 147, Theodore lane, Sithir More as it has become my habit. Raghav opened the door and instead of welcoming me inside, he put on his slippers and asked me to come with him.

"Where are we going?" I asked although a feeling had come over me that he had found a mystery. No wonder, he was excited to the utmost.

"My dear Sumukh," said he after almost five minutes of my question."A murder has taken place."

"Where?"I asked, equally excited.

"In our own school!"

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                                                                                             (2)

There was a huge crowd in front of the Kolkata Public School building. Many police cars were parked on the opposite side of the road. The thought of a murder in our own school sent a chill down my spine. We advanced towards the main gate. Raghav knew that it would be difficult for him to get inside in the absence of his father. However, he gave it a try.

"Ummm. I am Raghav Dutta," he started. "I am a student of this school. How did the murder occur?"

The policeman, to whom Raghav had asked the question, looked like a decent fellow and he proved to be one when he narrated the whole affair.

"Firstly,it's a suicide," said the policeman. "People are calling it a murder to make it more interesting. The dead boy has been identfied as Rocky Dey, a student of this school. He hung himself from the ceiling fan in that abandoned science lab."

Rocky Dey, I recalled, was our senior. He was in 12th standard. He was the most feared bully of our school. Parents of our juniors often complained against him, but to no effect as his father was a renowned businessman of Kolkata. To be honest, I was not very aggrieved at hearing the news, probably because Rocky Dey was the victim."