"I don't think this is news for you all," Grim-filled, Vedant addressed the press. "Mr. Veerkaran Singh was found dead at JP Link Road Junction, 2 days ago. Initially it was recorded as an accident – A Hit and Run but now, after diligent investigation, we have acquired evidence to believe that the cause of death wasn't actually accident but Mr. Singh was murdered- in this site. The accident was staged to throw us off the right direction."
The entire site was closed down on grounds of it being a murder scene. Yellow crime scene ribbon were out decorating the gate. The site was dotted with forensic officers who were strolling in the pool congregating evidence. The rain had stopped showering its heavy blessings and had resolved to an uncomplicated drizzle.
Vedant, still in his wet form, stood in front of the construction site gate, feeling very conscious about the numerous cameras aiming at the every movement of his every muscle on his face. But he was adept in hiding it proficiently. His concentration was completely directed at the every word he was uttering or was about to utter which he very well knew was going to make headlines.
"Suspects, Mr. Vashisht?" The inevitable question was shot.
"Not yet. We have a list of people who are of interest to us. But no one under complete the suspicion radar," said Vedant primly.
"How did Mr. Singh die?"
"We are just now collecting all the evidence. It will take us sometime to divulge the correct details. But I can say this much that he was hit in the head and beaten to death."
"What about the victim's connection with the Kiran rape case?"
Another inevitable question.
"We do know our victim's involvement with the rape case. We are definitely considering it. We are not forcing any connections. If there is one, we will find out." Vedant remained succinct.
"We heard Samar Lala is being taken back to the prison?"
Vikram had informed him that the parole officer had received orders from the prison officials to get Samar back to the prison where he would be questioned under their surveillance. They didn't trust outside protection understandably. But how did the media know? "One day I am going to employ the media for my sleuthing work," thought Vedant, the very thought pricking his head.
"Yes. We wanted to question him and the officials believed it would be better if it is done in the prison. After the interview, he would be free to continue his parole."
"What about forensics?"
"I haven't even reported that to my seniors, do you think I am going to share that with you all now?" jested Vedant, cleverly dodging the question. The reported chuckled.
"What is your next move?"
"You want the murderers to know my plan?" Vedant continued with the same attitude. He had given the media as much as he thought was needed. He just had to stall the rest of the questions with indirect answers or the safe "no comments".
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The next day seemed no different to the previous one. The city had always seen heavy rains in that time of the year. The gloomy atmosphere and the chillness in the air gave a lousy feeling.
It was 8.30 am. The office of the special branch was in full attendance except for their boss. Covered in thick woollen clothes to fight the war against the cold rain, the workplace looked a normal one. The usual aroma of the coffee packed the air and the morning newspapers had made their way to every hand in the room. Jokes flew, sarcasm floated, every news article published on the case was analysed and peered at.
"Revenge??" "Have the rapists avenged?" "Fate of a noble soul" and lot of other catchy phrases made their way to the title of the case snippets. The history of Kiran Rape Case, the involvement of Veerkaran Singh, the life story of the convicts were all revived from the grave. There wasn't much criticism on the part of the team. In fact they were widely appreciated for the efforts they had put in in spite of the terrible weather.
"That was a masterstroke by our boss," said Sagar with admiration. "The identification of the murder scene was a significant lead and a news which he could give the media without disrupting our enquiry process, and the weather and his own presence amidst everything projected a nice positive image for us. Perfect!"
"Reports ready?" asked Vedant as he entered the office briskly. He loved to see his team at their usual self, having a normal time. At the same time, he mischievously loved to spoil it.
"Good morning Sir," wishes from every officer was uttered in no sync. Everyone pushed the newspapers aside and got back to the report writing grudgingly. They hated paper work. They have argued a million times that the paper work slows down their investigation process and that they should do it after the closure of the case but no one seemed to be listening to them.
"Good morning. I want all your reports on the table in an hour," he said as he made his way to the meeting room.
"But Sir?" protested Sagar. "In one hour? That's impossible and we have so many work to do?"
Vedant turned surveyed the room with a smile. It seemed like a classroom with his colleagues as students and him being a teacher and they bargaining for more time for their assignment. "Sagar! I am giving you 1 hour to complete the reports when I have to submit my report which contains all your reports in 30 min. Consider yourself lucky that you have one hour." He could see the childish disappointment in everyone's face as they dragged their mind to their reports. Opening the meeting room door and getting hit by the pitch darkness, he waved his hand to get hold of the switch. Having never been aware of which switch held the responsibility for the glow of light, he banged on all the switches. Still dark. He turned towards his team shrugging.
"No power!" replied Heera understanding her boss's movement. The light from the windows brightened the squad room. Vedant gazed at the dark room for a moment before walking back to his team. He searched for an empty chair. Every chair was occupied. Ruby and Charith stood up to give their chair, but Vedant raised his hand in refusal. He settled himself sitting on the table. "Bring the board here," he instructed. Vikram and Charith pushed the heavy board slowly from the meeting room to the squad room. Everyone looked at the details written on the board along with the pictures stuck. They had two and a half days more to close the case. Practically 2 days.
The sound of the crashing thunder brought the team to the present.
"I got a call from the Commissioner," said Vedant. "The media has started digging up the Kiran rape case and are making a mess out of it. Kiran's family isn't happy about it. We have orders to complete the case as soon as possible and not wait for the 2 days."
"He thinks 2 days is too much time?" asked Vikram.
"They are just looking for a reason to disparage us," added Sagar.
Vedant avoided answering those comments directly.
"Let our attitude not be towards winning the challenge in hand but on catching the killer. Our attitude should be towards gaining justice. Don't force yourself or rush your steps keeping the timeline in mind. If we are unable to find the killer in 2 days, no problem. I will deal with it. I don't want us to make mistakes in our investigation and wrongly persecute and convict an innocent just because we want to prove ourselves. Go with the flow."
The team understood what their boss meant and realised they indeed were concentrating too much on the deadline. This was one of the reasons why they looked up their boss with deference. He was always there to guide them in the right path at the right time.
"Was Veerkaran's phone found at the murder scene?" asked Vedant.
"No Sir," replied Sagar. "In fact apart from the helmet and the murder weapon, forensics couldn't find anything solid. They have taken shoeprints to match it with the shoeprints at the accident scene but again, there is no way we are going to get leads for suspects from there."
"Alright!" Vedant spoke with a loud voice to bring some energy to the dull air. "What else have we got? Charith?"
"Yes Sir. There are quite few things I have found. First, the White SUV. I had shortlisted 36 SUV owners. I was completely confused as to how to proceed and shortlist even more. Door to door seemed the only option. But suddenly an idea sparked. The SUV was badly damaged...we know that. So the owner would want to patch things up so that he is not traced. The SUV is a Duster. No man in the right mind would give that to a petty mechanic. They would definitely go for their service centre. I contacted all the company service centres to send me a list of Dusters which had been registered for servicing or other problems. And we have a hit. Day before yesterday morning, a Duster with a badly dented bonnet and window glasses broken was brought in for repairing. The number is RK 75 X 8836. It is registered to a John Mathews. He lives in Chopra Garden City. I have an address."
Charith handed over a small note to Vedant who read thinking. "Was the hit an innocent one or a planned one?" he wondered.
"Coming to the identification of our three convicts from the rape case. No death records for any of the convicts. So I went through the Change of Names records. We know the three convicts were released last year. So I checked records from then. We have hits. Tejesh Kumar has changed his name to Tejpal Kumar. Maninder Singh is Manipreet Singh and Rajesh Lala is..." Charith sniggered intriguing everyone. "Rajesh Lala has changed his name to Mukesh Ambani."
"Seriously?" asked Heera giggling. Everyone had a smile on his face. Vedant and Vikram shook their heads at the silly selection of the name. Agastya, suddenly interested, began searching for something on his laptop.
"Yes," repeated Charith. "Important point. The name Manipreet Singh rang a bell for me and I went back to the death records. Manipreet Singh died 7 months ago."
"That saves our time. We have just two people to trace now. Tejpal Kumar and Mukesh Ambani," Sagar couldn't stop smirking at the change of name to Mukesh Ambani.
"Guys listen!" Agastya called for everyone's attention. "The name Mukesh Ambani stirred my mind. To prepare a short report on AC Constructions, I had opened multiple websites and bookmarked it. I went through the company website alone yesterday. AC Constructions was established 7 years ago by a group of youngsters. Always Consistent is their tagline and hence AC I think..." He scrolled the monitor screen before he continued. "I was checking the people involved. Apart from the 5 founders, the board of directors have 5 more people, a total of 10...That's what it read in the website yesterday."
"Meaning?" asked Vedant.
"The website said there were 10 board of directors and the names were listed. But today, when now when I checked the website, it tells there are 10 directors, but the list shows only 9 names. I accessed the same link from the cache memory...The name which had been deleted is Mukesh Ambani. I thought it was the real Mukesh Ambani yesterday but apparently it's not I guess, do you?"
"So Rajesh Lala has a connection with AC Constructions - Veerkaran was murdered at their construction site - Veerkaran testified against Rajesh Lala in the rape case...That's a pretty strong connection," said Heera.
"Rajesh Lala is an independent director," informed Agastya. "He might not have any connection as such with the company. He might not hold anything in the company."
"It's still a connection. What happened to the dark sedan and our jacket man?" asked Vedant.
"Dead end. We don't have any significant detail to go with. Having stickers and names written on the rear windscreen is so common. It's very difficult to track down, especially when we don't know anything about the sedan. It could be from our city or from somewhere else," answered Charith.
"What about the bald man?" asked Vikram.
"We have a partial picture of the guy," Agastya pasted a picture of the bald man on the board. Vedant, Vikram and Ruby hadn't seen the picture. "I am trying to run this face on our criminal database, but the picture is not very clear. The results might not be accurate."
"Could this bald man be Tejesh or Rajesh?" asked Ruby. "May be they went for a bald look after they left the prison. Usually people who return after serving prison sentence would want to go for some drastic change to forget the cruel experience in the prison and start a new life."
"Doesn't look like them," said Sagar as he placed the pictures of Tejesh and Rajesh near the bald man. He covered the top portion of the pictures to see if they resemble the bald man. "Could be them..."
"Agastya! See if you can clear up the picture even more and compare it with Tejesh and Rajesh...or make the two bald and compare with the bald man we have," said Vedant.
"Financials!" called Heera. "This arrangement of money transfer began 4 years ago, September 2011 to be precise. It began with 30k every month and gradually increased to 50k every month now. But 5 months ago, money entered Mina's account but wasn't transferred anywhere."
"What could this arrangement be for?" asked Ruby.
"September 2011. What happened?" asked Sagar.
"Nothing," said Charith checking his notes. "But...August 2011. Kiran Rape Case verdict was announced."
"That must be it..." said Vikram. "Veerkaran testified and the sentence went against the suspects. So the family was blackmailed for money..."
"Veerkaran doesn't seem to be like a person who would succumb to blackmail," said Ruby.
"May be he didn't know?" pointed Vedant. "Imagine...After the sentence...Mina gets a call from the blackmailer for the money, else her family would be attacked?"
"Specifically her son?" asked Heera. "We did hear her say she knows how to deal with threats, she had been protecting her son all these years...may be she was blackmailed for her son's life?"
"Yes. Assuming the account belonged to Sharad, he had been sending money to Mina to give to the blackmailers," said Vikram.
"But Mina had been transferring money to own account?" asked Charith.
"May be the second account of Mina's is a bogus in her name. May be the blackmailer asked her to open another account on her name...but they will access it so that they can't be traced. So Sharad sends money to Mina...Mina transfers to her another account from which the blackmailers withdraw it?" theorised Vedant.
"That seems like the likely theory," said Sagar. "But why did it end 5 months ago? Another deal?"
"Veerkaran came to know and put an end to it?" asked Vedant.
"Highly likely. The money had been withdrawn from different ATMs across the city. I have requested for the CCTV footages from those ATMs on specific dates. We may have a face who had withdrawn the amount."
"The blackmail- assuming it's a blackmail- started in 2011 after the verdict. But Rajesh, Tejesh, Maninder and Samar...all were in prison at that time. They could not have possibly been part of the blackmail directly. So we are looking at more people involved," said Vedant.
"Someone close to them," added Vikram.
"So whoever was withdrawing the money could lead us to the people involved," said Heera.
"When did Veerkaran meet Samar last?" asked Vedant.
"He met him in May, May 18th," said Agastya. "Which is odd."
"Why?" asked Vedant. Agastya was silent as he read through whatever he was reading.
"We know Veerkaran met Samar twice a year. He had placed a routine regarding that. He usually visited him in February and in August."
"But he had made a sudden visit in May?" wondered Sagar.
"Which is..." Vedant elongated his words. "Which is 5 months ago, right?"
"Something has happened 5 months ago," said Ruby. "Money transfer ceasing 5 months ago. Veerkaran meeting Samar out of the blue 5 months ago when he had just met him in February...This can't be a coincidence."
"Do we believe in coincidence?" asked Heera dryly.
"No," replied Vedant strongly.
"Can we now be sure the murder was actually a revenge and related to the Kiran Rape Case?" asked Sagar. "That would change the entire perspective."
The last thing the Mayor and Commissioner would want was a review of the rape case. From the beginning the connection with the rape case wanted to be under wraps for some reason. One reason could be Kiran's family would be tormented once again. But that didn't seem to be the actual reason. The team was already under scrutiny for some reason. If they worked towards finding out the connection, there were going to be many unhappy customers. The team looked at their boss, who sat pinching his chin, staring at the board, thinking twice before making the decision.
"Charith! Get hold of all the files regarding the rape case- Statements, Trial reports, forensics...everything. Send forensics to the lab and inform Dr. Shakti to see if there is any connection between both the cases forensically."
"Are we going to interview everyone involved again?" asked Vikram.
"No," replied Vedant. "We will stay with the case we have in hand. We refer the rape case only if needed. We make no mention of the rape case anywhere to anyone. Anything else?"
"Yes," said Ruby. She opened the files in front of her. "I went through all the belongings of Samar at his prison cell as well as his room. It's definitely not something that one would see in a rapist. It's too clean. Too....peaceful. He has made note of the dates he had worked and what kind of work he had done. Well organised. In case he had some argument, petty arguments with anyone, he had mentioned that in the diary. But it's not even close to hatred. It's more of frustration, frustration because of what people think of him. For example- Samar had an argument with a fellow jail mate. He hasn't mentioned the argument in detail. But he has asked many questions like, I am not loyal? I don't understand compassion? I don't understand family?"
"You mean to say, Samar thinks he doesn't deserve the treatment he is subjected to?" asked Vikram uncertainly.
"Possibly. I can't be sure without meeting and talking to him. But I still feel, he couldn't have killed anyone or even raped anyone."
"But the forensic evidence we have, has dug a grave for him at the accident scene," said Vikram. "I think we cannot ignore that just because his profile doesn't fit our killer."
"When it comes to murder, there has to be a motive. What motive could have Samar had to kill Veerkaran? He seemed to have a cordial relation with him," argued Ruby.
"Don't you think that's an out-of-the-mind behaviour? To meet and talk affably with the person who was the reason behind his imprisonment?" Vikram wasn't going to give away his argument easily.
"Definitely not. He wouldn't have been affable if he was guilty. That makes me wonder if he was guilty for the rape in the first place," continued Ruby.
"Now we have to investigate the rape case also?" Vikram was baffled. "Alright. Even if Samar wasn't guilty, hadn't done the rape, it wasn't like evidence was framed against him, was it? He confessed in his own words. He fell into the pit all by himself. Isn't the mistake his then? He had lied which in itself is a crime, whatever the reason was."
"Enough!" quelled Vedant. "We can have Evidence Vs Psychology debate later. Ruby, anything else?" It's just been 6 months and every team member of his had maintained some distance from each other and backing off whenever an argument arose. But in due course, they have become comfortable with each other that they didn't mind getting into a verbal fight which he had to curb from time to time. There had been times when he had been part of the row too, but everything was professional. Nothing was taken personally. He was happy that the team was growing to be a very well closed unit and Ruby, so quickly had become part of it.
"Samar makes repeated note of one name in several pages in his diary. 'Amar'. Random pages. Could be his son," said Ruby continuing to share her findings.
"With no record of his marriage, it's not going to be easy to track his family without alerting his "community" which we don't want to," said Sagar.
"There is one page which completely stands out from all his belongings. It's a plain paper...not from the diary. Samar had written something and scribbled strongly over it that it's impossible to read what he had written." Ruby placed the paper on the table. The paper was in complete blue ballpoint ink. "Whatever he had written, either he didn't want anyone to see or he hated it that he attacked it with whatever he could. With his pen."
"Why didn't he tear the paper to pieces?" asked Heera.
"That's what is interesting. That's what makes me think that whatever he wrote wasn't something hateful. It wasn't something he wanted to get rid of. Samar saving that paper is more like to remind him of what he had written. Probably the truth. Probably something which made him feel good."
"This is all so confusing," remarked Sagar.
"It's confusing me too. Samar's personality doesn't fit in anyway to be a suspect in either of the cases."
"He could be a psychopath hiding his original identity," guessed Vikram, trying to reinstate the argument.
"Or split personality," joined Sagar.
Ruby laughed. "I don't see symptoms for either of them. See, those kind of people will depict at least two kinds of extreme behaviour. But Samar portrays just a single behaviour, which doesn't match with our suspects. I don't think he is psychopath or split personality. But to make sure, I have to speak to him and also with people who know him."
"Charith! See what you can find about Samar before his conviction," instructed Vedant before Vikram could retort.
"Shouldn't we inform Samar's family?" asked Heera. "If we are questioning him?"
"That would mean alerting Rajesh, which we don't want," said Vikram.
"But...we have to inform his family and his lawyers," argued Heera.
"Don't worry. His lawyers would definitely be present. The prison officials would have informed them," said Vedant rubbing his head. "About informing his family directly, let's delay it for a moment. I don't want our opponents to make another move before we make ours."
Heera was surprised. Vedant never jumped rules- never would be a strong word to use. Vedant usually never jumped rules.
"What else did Samar have?" asked Sagar.
"Few bills, tickets, eatables...2 dolls, which I assume is for his son," said Ruby.
"How did the prison official know it's a son and not a daughter?" asked Vikram. "Did Samar talk to the official regarding his son?"
"Sathish, the officer in charge told me that Sagar sent post cards every year, and he assumes it's for his son," said Ruby. "Samar has a very positive image at the prison. There seem to be no complains whatsoever against him. I am not siding him, it just makes me wonder how a prisoner could have such a good name from his officials."
"Could it be because he is Rajesh Lala's brother? Special treatment because of that?" asked Heera.
"The officials would definitely know something. But we have to tread carefully. Don't say anything to the officials as yet," said Vedant looking at Vikram. He was slightly scared of his truculent attitude. He didn't want enemies to pop on all sides crushing them. Vedant stood up signalling for the end of discussion and beginning of the conclusion for the meeting.
"We have witnesses who have seen three men at the accident scene- Bald Man, Jacket Man and X. We have Samar's hair found at the scene. So he is either X or the Jacket Man..."
"Or none and he is just being framed," added Ruby, little embarrassed to consistently side the suspect.
"Fine! We have a partial picture of the bald man. Agastya will compare the bald man with Tejesh aka Tejpal and Rajesh aka Mukesh Ambani," stated Vedant.
Agastya nodded. "I will get the prints for the change in the list of directors' name." Vedant made three boxes with the title Accident Scene. He wrote BM in the first box for Bald Man, JM in the second box for Jacket Man and X in the third box. He also made note of Samar's hair as Evidence found.
"Sagar, follow on the White SUV. I want to know who drove the car and why he fled the scene and if the accident was indeed an accident or was part of the planned murder." Vedant wrote White SUV – Chopra Garden City on the board. Sagar made note of the address.
"Agastya! Follow on the ATM CCTV footages also," delegated Vedant. "Charith! I need everything on AC Constructions. Get hold of their employee list. I want to know who had access to the site."
"Also about Samar," said Charith making a note.
"Good. Heera! You will go to Veerkaran's house and attend the funeral. See what information you can get on the family. Speak to the relatives subtly without giving them any notion that you are there to investigate. No need to talk to Mina or Sharad. We can talk to them later. Charith! You go along with Heera. But enter separately. People know Heera there, but no one has seen you. See if you can talk with Sharad's friends and get to know about his childhood. I want to know if the family was troubled in anyway."
Charith immediately displayed a wide beam. He rarely got the chance to go on the field.
"Vikram and Ruby! Visit Samar and see what you can get out from him. Go easy. I don't want lawyers swarming us even before we could say Hello. Don't talk about the hair evidence until needed. Get to know who Samar met, where he went during his parole time and what he thinks of Veerkaran and what their meeting was all about."
"What about you?" asked Sagar.
"I am going to fix an appointment with Mukesh Ambani," winked Vedant. "I am going to AC Constructions. Agastya would be at the base. We will all communicate with each other through him. Anything suspicious. Call for backup. No heroics."
The phone rang in Vedant's room. Vedant signalled Agastya to route that to the phone in the squad room.
"Yes!" Vedant heard intently what he was being told. He placed the receiver and turned to his curious team.
"Lab confirms the wooden handle is our murder weapon. The helmet is Veerkaran's. So he was definitely present at the murder scene. But...the bike wasn't Veerkaran's. So the helmet?"
"The helmet is Veerkaran's. He had an old scooter which he bought in 1970s. He had a helmet then which he preserved safely all these years. He had to sell the scooter but he refused to give the helmet. Sharad told the entire history," laughed Heera. "People have sentiments over odd things."
"And fears," thought Vedant as he looked at the dark meeting room.
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;$8A